Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $128.40.

Several research firms recently weighed in on BMO. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $346,000. Five Oceans Advisors bought a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $327,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 80.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 125,572 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,344,000 after purchasing an additional 55,823 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 72.9% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 588,209 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,082,000 after purchasing an additional 248,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,327,465 shares of the bank’s stock worth $300,137,000 after purchasing an additional 144,252 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $103.03 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $106.00. The company has a market cap of $75.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $99.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.82.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 63.18%.

Bank of Montreal Company Profile

Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. It operates through Canadian P&C, U.S P&C, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital Markets segments. The company’s personal banking products and services include deposits, mortgages, home lending, consumer credit, small business lending, credit cards, cash management, financial and investment advice, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services comprise various of financing options and treasury and payment solutions, as well as risk management products.