Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Short Interest Down 18.7% in February

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,900,000 shares, a decrease of 18.7% from the January 31st total of 10,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 644,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 13.8 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BMO has been the topic of a number of research reports. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective 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 raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $101.75 on Tuesday. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. 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 fifty day moving average of $99.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.24. The stock has a market cap of $74.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09.

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 firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.36%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 56.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 44.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,103 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 23.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 190,255 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,760,000 after purchasing an additional 35,614 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 72.9% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 588,209 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,082,000 after acquiring an additional 248,098 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 31,812 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,871,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gold Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 20,905 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.