Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO have been given an average rating of "Hold" by the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $119.75.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Securities lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 70.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,923 shares of the bank's stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 2,455 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after buying an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,321,849 shares of the bank's stock valued at $303,130,000 after buying an additional 307,466 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.5% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,771 shares of the bank's stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 80.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 125,572 shares of the bank's stock valued at $11,344,000 after buying an additional 55,823 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $94.03. 373,350 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 896,826. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.18. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $100.12. The company has a market cap of $68.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.10.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.123 per share. This represents a $4.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.13%.

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.