TD Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 486,984 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal comprises 1.5% of TD Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. TD Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $1,709,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Passumpsic Savings Bank increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 5,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.3% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,602 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,865 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 6,355 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded 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 upped their price target on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Bank of Montreal stock opened at $97.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $70.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.58. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.09%.

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.