ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Sells 2,141 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. cut its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 73,222 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,141 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $7,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 2,701.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 30,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 29,367 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.1% during the second quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 1,411,695 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,371,000 after purchasing an additional 14,809 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased 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 valued at $11,344,000 after purchasing an additional 55,823 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 72.9% in the 3rd 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. lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,327,465 shares of the bank’s stock worth $300,137,000 after buying an additional 144,252 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $97.50. The stock had a trading volume of 169,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 481,736. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.08. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $104.63. The firm has a market cap of $71.14 billion, a PE ratio of 13.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 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.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a $1.1329 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.65%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.34%.

Bank of Montreal 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.