Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 5,185 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,175 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 5,185 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $3,511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BMO. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 8.7% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,046 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 5.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,848,917 shares of the bank’s stock worth $167,017,000 after purchasing an additional 103,495 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Bank of Montreal by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 165,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,919,000 after purchasing an additional 10,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $402,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $96.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.40. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $106.00. 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 (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.1094 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.40.

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.