71,581 Shares in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Purchased by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 71,581 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $6,947,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BMO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 708,767 shares of the bank's stock worth $68,786,000 after purchasing an additional 40,135 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,913,716 shares of the bank's stock worth $185,694,000 after buying an additional 64,799 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the bank's stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 1,703 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at $346,000. Finally, Five Oceans Advisors purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter worth $327,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $128.40.

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Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

BMO stock traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $96.70. 1,041,033 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 794,157. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $99.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.40. The firm has a market cap of $70.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $106.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. Bank of Montreal's revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.59%. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.09%.

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.