Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.46 EPS

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.46, Zacks reports. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.7 %

BMO opened at $99.80 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $98.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.30, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.98 and a fifty-two week high of $104.63. 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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $1.1329 per share. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BMO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Company 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.