Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday.

BMO has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO opened at $100.81 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.41. The stock has a market cap of $73.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.10. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $104.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $1.1329 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 67.34%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,602 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.5% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,581 shares of the bank’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.1% during the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 4,125 shares of the bank’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased 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 valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 17.9% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,092 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.