Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Sells 13,100 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,500 shares of the bank's stock after selling 13,100 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $2,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BMO. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,975 shares of the bank's stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 10.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,429 shares of the bank's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Bank of Montreal by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,022 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal during the 1st quarter valued at about $542,000. Finally, Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 69,514 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,789,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on BMO shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. 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. Scotiabank cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of BMO stock traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $90.76. 670,410 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 905,418. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $66.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.10. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $89.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.07. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.33 and a twelve month high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. Bank of Montreal's revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 EPS 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 $1.123 dividend. This represents a $4.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.13%.

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.