Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Makes New $302,000 Investment in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,108 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 33,446.3% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 59,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,763,000 after buying an additional 59,200 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at $780,000. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,709,215,000 after purchasing an additional 486,984 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after purchasing an additional 576,744 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 276.7% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 324,268 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,470,000 after purchasing an additional 238,193 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BMO shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report 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, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $98.06 on Wednesday. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. The stock has a market cap of $71.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $99.45 and its 200-day moving average is $95.70. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.