Fmr LLC Raises Stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,208,431 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 161,710 shares during the period. FMR LLC owned approximately 0.71% of Bank of Montreal worth $505,643,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after acquiring an additional 576,744 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,709,215,000 after acquiring an additional 486,984 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position 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 worth $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth $1,014,633,000. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 6,616,614 shares of the bank's stock valued at $642,016,000 after buying an additional 704,197 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BMO. Cibc World Mkts lowered Bank of Montreal from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. CIBC downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO stock traded up $0.75 on Tuesday, reaching $92.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 154,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 860,617. The company has a market capitalization of $67.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.32, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $97.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.23. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal's revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.77%. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.35%.

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.