Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,519,277 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 87,057 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.48% of Bank of Montreal worth $295,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BMO. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.0% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,629,370 shares of the bank’s stock worth $136,623,000 after purchasing an additional 48,139 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,454 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,321,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $522,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Bank of Montreal by 5.1% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 152,263 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,635,000 after acquiring an additional 7,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 23.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 164,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,810,000 after purchasing an additional 31,374 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BMO. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com cut Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, TD Securities lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $87.74 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.85. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $73.98 and a fifty-two week high of $100.12. The firm has a market cap of $63.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $1.123 dividend. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.25%.

Bank of Montreal 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.