TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Acquires 176,715 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,653,260 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 176,715 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal accounts for 2.1% of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. owned about 0.36% of Bank of Montreal worth $256,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the bank's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 282.8% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the bank's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 140.9% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 612 shares of the bank's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMO traded down $0.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $95.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,970,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 876,132. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $106.00. 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 (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.67%. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on BMO. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. CIBC lowered Bank of Montreal from a "sector outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts downgraded Bank of Montreal from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $128.40.

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.