Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Receives $128.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $128.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BMO shares. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $133.00 to $161.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 lowered Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Planning boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,313 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,458,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 6.7% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,220 shares of the bank's stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 11.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,140 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,969 shares during the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 760,524 shares of the bank's stock valued at $68,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ignite Planners LLC increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 10,463 shares of the bank's stock worth $944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 1.3 %

BMO traded up $1.25 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $99.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 367,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 575,719. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $104.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $98.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.97. 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 firm has a market cap of $72.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.28, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.09.

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 $1.1329 dividend. 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 4.54%. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal's previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.