Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Short Interest Down 5.2% in January

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,820,000 shares, a drop of 5.2% from the December 31st total of 6,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 825,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.1 days. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Bank of Montreal from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price 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 report on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock traded up $0.78 on Wednesday, reaching $98.34. The company had a trading volume of 193,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 575,688. The firm has a market cap of $71.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $98.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.93. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $104.63.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a $1.1329 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal's previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. Bank of Montreal's payout ratio is 63.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank's stock worth $455,397,000 after purchasing an additional 625,797 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank's stock worth $432,823,000 after purchasing an additional 114,909 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank's stock worth $383,449,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank's stock worth $358,991,000 after acquiring an additional 248,096 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company's stock.

About Bank of Montreal

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.