American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 31,374 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 23.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 164,531 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,374 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $13,810,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 463 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal during the second quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal during the second quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. TD Securities lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $89.91 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $84.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $73.98 and a fifty-two week high of $100.12.

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

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 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.