Wealth Alliance Takes $777,000 Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Wealth Alliance acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,004 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $777,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 244.1% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 554 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 207.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 668 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 680 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter worth $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BMO shares. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of BMO opened at $100.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $98.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.46, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $104.63.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.1329 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 63.32%.

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.