Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Stake Reduced by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 959,600 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 14,926 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.13% of Bank of Montreal worth $93,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 300,456.3% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 105,510,305 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,439,190,000 after acquiring an additional 105,475,200 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter worth $812,644,000. FIL Ltd boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 138.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 9,872,642 shares of the bank’s stock worth $976,870,000 after acquiring an additional 5,729,145 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 19,225,705 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,911,635,000 after acquiring an additional 3,187,998 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,073,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,777,561,000 after acquiring an additional 881,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Desjardins lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.50.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock traded down $1.21 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $86.25. The stock had a trading volume of 480,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 790,886. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $62.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $87.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.65. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $73.98 and a fifty-two week high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The bank reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.10). Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.25% and a return on equity of 11.60%. The company had revenue of $5.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.96 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.125 per share. This represents a $4.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.22%. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.25%.

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.