Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $128.40.

A number of brokerages have commented on BMO. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.9 %

Bank of Montreal stock opened at $103.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $106.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $99.09 and its 200 day moving average is $93.82. The company has a market capitalization of $75.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. Bank of Montreal’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 63.18%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BMO. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 282.8% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.