Short Interest in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Decreases By 5.2%

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,820,000 shares, a decline of 5.2% from the December 15th total of 6,140,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 825,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.1 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $98.99 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $96.75 and a 200-day moving average of $90.76. 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 firm has a market cap of $72.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $104.63.

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 given a $1.1329 dividend. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. This is an increase 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 is 65.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report 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. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2,701.7% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 30,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after buying an additional 29,367 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 80.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 125,572 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,344,000 after acquiring an additional 55,823 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 72.9% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 588,209 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,082,000 after purchasing an additional 248,098 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,327,465 shares of the bank’s stock worth $300,137,000 after purchasing an additional 144,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,298,627 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,326,000 after purchasing an additional 60,155 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.