First Horizon Advisors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 140.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 612 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal during the third quarter valued at $45,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 207.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 668 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 680 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 180.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 969 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BMO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research 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 report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Bank of Montreal stock opened at $103.03 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $106.00. The stock has a market cap of $75.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $99.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.18%.

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.