Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $119.75.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Bank of Montreal in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,581 shares of the bank’s stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 4.4% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,580 shares of the bank’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 34.6% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 623 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 17.9% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,092 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 8.9% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $90.21 on Tuesday. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $73.98 and a 1 year high of $100.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.123 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.98%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 76.25%.

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.