Norges Bank Makes New Investment in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,464,521 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,014,633,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 708,767 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $68,786,000 after buying an additional 40,135 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,913,716 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $185,694,000 after acquiring an additional 64,799 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the bank’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $346,000. Finally, Five Oceans Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $327,000. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $97.07 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $70.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of $76.98 and a 12 month high of $106.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $99.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.72.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BMO. 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 shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.40.

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.