Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 14,300 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,519 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 14,300 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $11,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 244.1% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 554 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 207.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 668 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 680 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BMO. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. 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. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of 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 research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of BMO opened at $101.08 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $104.63. The firm has a market cap of $73.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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 paid a $1.1329 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is 63.32%.

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.