Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Stock Rating Lowered by CIBC

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) was downgraded by equities researchers at CIBC from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 7.1 %

BMO opened at $89.27 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $98.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.98 and a fifty-two week high of $106.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Bank of Montreal’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BMO. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 282.8% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. 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.