Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 6,070,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the November 15th total of 5,520,000 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 949,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,761,836 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,231,564,000 after purchasing an additional 692,049 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.8% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,312,320 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $613,138,000 after purchasing an additional 463,924 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 36.9% in the second quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock worth $439,705,000 after buying an additional 1,412,532 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 14.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,397,000 after buying an additional 625,797 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America cut Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $133.00 target price (up from $106.00) on shares of Bank of Montreal in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE BMO opened at $98.63 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of $76.98 and a 12 month high of $104.63. The company has a market cap of $71.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.67.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.1329 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.34%.

About Bank of Montreal

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.