Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Short Interest Up 45.2% in March

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,520,000 shares, a growth of 45.2% from the February 28th total of 5,180,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 602,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 12.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BMO. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. 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 increased their price target on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after buying an additional 576,744 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,709,215,000 after purchasing an additional 486,984 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,833,065 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,244,284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,712 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,215,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,184,636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,962 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,014,633,000. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO stock traded down $1.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $95.26. The stock had a trading volume of 588,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 851,849. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of Montreal has a one year low of $76.98 and a one year high of $106.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $99.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.89.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.66%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.09%.

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.