Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $127.50.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BMO. Desjardins cut Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $137.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Bank of Montreal in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3,375.0% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 417 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 463 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 117.5% in the fourth quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 496 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $83.77 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $73.98 and a 12-month high of $100.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $90.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The bank reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $5.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.96 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.25% and a return on equity of 11.60%. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.125 per share. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $4.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.37%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 74.25%.

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.