Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Sold by Cumberland Partners Ltd

Cumberland Partners Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,583 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,578 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BMO. StockNews.com lowered Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

NYSE BMO opened at $94.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $68.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $90.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.04. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.98 and a fifty-two week high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.123 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.77%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 72.13%.

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.