Intact Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 35.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 797,460 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 209,251 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal comprises 2.7% of Intact Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned 0.11% of Bank of Montreal worth $77,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BMO. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 6,897 shares of the bank’s stock worth $622,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $355,000. Curi RMB Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 30,990 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $95.00 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $106.00. The stock has a market cap of $69.24 billion, a PE ratio of 13.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $99.41 and its 200-day moving average is $94.74. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 57.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BMO. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” 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, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.