Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,812 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 554 shares during the quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $2,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BMO. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2,701.7% in the third 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 increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 1,411,695 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,371,000 after purchasing an additional 14,809 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,617,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,795,402,000 after buying an additional 544,767 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,997,000. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,403,431 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,789,000 after purchasing an additional 69,111 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BMO shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank cut Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $92.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $67.31 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.83 and a fifty-two week high of $100.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $89.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.03.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 8 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $1.123 dividend. This represents a $4.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.13%.

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.