Barclays PLC Acquires 2,455 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,923 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $534,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,449,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074,389 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 138.4% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,851,629 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $407,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,816,385 shares during the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 36.9% during the second quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock worth $439,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,532 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.9% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,761,836 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,231,564,000 after purchasing an additional 692,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,397,000 after acquiring an additional 625,797 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $133.00 price target (up from $106.00) on shares of Bank of Montreal in a report on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $97.04 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.62. The firm has a market cap of $70.81 billion, a PE ratio of 13.90, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.10. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $104.63. 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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $1.1329 dividend. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.34%.

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.