Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Stake Boosted by Forsta AP Fonden

Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 181,600 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 30,300 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $16,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,617,952 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,795,402,000 after purchasing an additional 544,767 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,761,836 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,231,564,000 after acquiring an additional 692,049 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,312,320 shares of the bank's stock worth $613,138,000 after acquiring an additional 463,924 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 36.9% during the second quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank's stock valued at $439,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,532 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 138.4% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,851,629 shares of the bank's stock worth $407,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,816,385 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company's stock.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BMO traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $92.77. 868,526 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 886,007. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $73.98 and a 1 year high of $100.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $88.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.11.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.123 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.84%. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BMO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com cut Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America downgraded Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Bank of Montreal in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $119.75.

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.