Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Share Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO)’s share price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$125.42 and traded as high as C$143.78. Bank of Montreal shares last traded at C$143.32, with a volume of 1,560,077 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on BMO. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$133.00 to C$161.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$143.00 to C$148.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$147.00 to C$160.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$134.00 to C$150.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$135.92.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 0.3 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average is C$137.48 and its 200 day moving average is C$125.61. The stock has a market capitalization of C$104.54 billion, a PE ratio of 16.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.16.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a $1.59 dividend. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.44%. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 71.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of Montreal news, Director William Darryl White sold 11,376 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$140.79, for a total value of C$1,601,592.91. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal is a diversified financial-services provider based in North America, operating four business segments: Canadian personal and commercial banking, U.S. P&C banking, wealth management, and capital markets.