Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 35,614 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 190,255 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,614 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $17,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BMO. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 38.0% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,069,787 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,318,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,874,573 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 1st quarter valued at $307,237,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 138.4% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,851,629 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $407,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,816,385 shares during the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock worth $439,705,000 after buying an additional 1,412,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 19.7% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,848,396 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $668,951,000 after buying an additional 1,128,281 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $91.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $66.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.10. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.83 and a 12-month high of $100.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 8 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.92%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on BMO shares. TD Securities downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Scotiabank cut Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

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.