Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Boosts Stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 140.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,958 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 14,584 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $2,422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth $274,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 71.7% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,709 shares of the bank's stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 2,801 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,242 shares of the bank's stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 760,614 shares of the bank's stock worth $73,818,000 after acquiring an additional 39,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 680 shares of the bank's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on BMO shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Bank of Montreal from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:BMO traded up $0.90 on Wednesday, hitting $98.46. The stock had a trading volume of 388,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 584,792. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $104.63. The business's fifty day moving average is $98.10 and its 200 day moving average is $91.93. The company has a market cap of $71.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.09.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $1.1329 dividend. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.60%. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal's previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.32%.

Bank of Montreal 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.