Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $128.00.

A number of research firms have commented on BMO. StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, CIBC raised Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO opened at $99.61 on Monday. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $104.63. 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 has a market cap of $72.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $98.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.14.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $1.1329 per share. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.32%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,534,508 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 625,797 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.5% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $432,823,000 after purchasing an additional 114,909 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $358,991,000 after purchasing an additional 248,096 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.