Argent Trust Co Invests $271,000 in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Argent Trust Co bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,792 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 708,767 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $68,786,000 after acquiring an additional 40,135 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 194,218 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,855,000 after purchasing an additional 14,351 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,913,716 shares of the bank’s stock worth $185,694,000 after buying an additional 64,799 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 1,703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 478,191 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,399,000 after buying an additional 12,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 2.4 %

BMO opened at $91.11 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $106.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $97.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $66.24 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95.

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, 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 net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share 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 $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BMO has been the subject of several analyst reports. CIBC downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.40.

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.