Short Interest in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Rises By 205.9%

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,820,000 shares, an increase of 205.9% from the September 30th total of 3,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.0 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company's stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on BMO. Scotiabank downgraded Bank of Montreal from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $123.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Bank of Montreal in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $119.75.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2,701.7% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 30,454 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 29,367 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 20,118 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,879,000 after acquiring an additional 7,411 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 244.1% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 554 shares of the bank's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 181,600 shares of the bank's stock valued at $16,405,000 after acquiring an additional 30,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,739 shares of the bank's stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company's stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BMO traded down $0.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $92.77. The stock had a trading volume of 868,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 886,007. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $67.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. Bank of Montreal has a one year low of $73.98 and a one year high of $100.12. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $88.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.18.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.08%.

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.