Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Short Interest Update

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,180,000 shares, a decline of 41.8% from the February 13th total of 8,900,000 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 651,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO stock opened at $97.00 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $99.43 and its 200 day moving average is $94.80. The firm has a market cap of $70.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. 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 (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth about $346,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,215,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,184,636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,962 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in Bank of Montreal by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,958 shares of the bank’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,481 shares during the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,422 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth $165,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.