Korea Investment CORP Boosts Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 478,191 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 12,052 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.07% of Bank of Montreal worth $46,399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after acquiring an additional 576,744 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,709,215,000 after purchasing an additional 486,984 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,397,000 after purchasing an additional 625,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank’s stock worth $358,991,000 after buying an additional 248,096 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BMO opened at $97.07 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $106.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.72. The company has a market cap of $70.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.