Vanguard Group Inc. Has $2.96 Billion Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 576,744 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 4.18% of Bank of Montreal worth $2,960,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 6.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 165,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,919,000 after acquiring an additional 10,792 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 4.2% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 6,210 shares of the bank’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 109.0% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,939 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $987,000 after purchasing an additional 5,705 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,502,000. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $98.06 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.70. The firm has a market cap of $71.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $106.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results 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. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.53%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.