Fiera Capital Corp Purchases 50,287 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,453,718 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 50,287 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp owned approximately 0.47% of Bank of Montreal worth $312,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 7.2% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,022 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 317.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 29,543 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,886,000 after purchasing an additional 22,463 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the 1st quarter valued at $282,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 22,797 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 65.8% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,009 shares of the bank's stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,591 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Bank of Montreal stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $92.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 468,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 901,616. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $89.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.10. The company has a market capitalization of $67.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.83 and a 12-month high of $100.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. Bank of Montreal's revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal's payout ratio is 72.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on BMO shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Bank of Montreal from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America cut Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $119.75.

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.