Wells Fargo & Company MN Buys 372,977 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 471.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 452,086 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 372,977 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.06% of Bank of Montreal worth $43,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BMO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after acquiring an additional 576,744 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,709,215,000 after purchasing an additional 486,984 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $1,014,633,000. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 6,616,614 shares of the bank's stock worth $642,016,000 after buying an additional 704,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company's stock.

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Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO stock traded up $0.75 on Tuesday, hitting $92.95. 134,680 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 860,532. The company has a 50 day moving average of $97.29 and a 200 day moving average of $96.23. The stock has a market cap of $67.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of $76.98 and a 12 month high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. Bank of Montreal's revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.77%. Bank of Montreal's payout ratio is 57.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.