Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Short Interest Update

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO was the target of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,180,000 shares, a decline of 41.8% from the February 13th total of 8,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 651,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.0 days. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

BMO traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.60. 434,791 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 787,648. 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 market capitalization of $71.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.08.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BMO. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 6,897 shares of the bank's stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the third quarter valued at approximately $355,000. Curi RMB Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.6% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 30,990 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,667 shares of the bank's stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Seven equities research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, 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.