Truist Financial Corp Increases Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 397.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,654 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 73,216 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $8,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,397,000 after acquiring an additional 625,797 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $432,823,000 after purchasing an additional 114,909 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank’s stock worth $358,991,000 after purchasing an additional 248,096 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BMO shares. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, CIBC raised Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO opened at $100.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $98.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.22. Bank of Montreal has a one year low of $76.98 and a one year high of $104.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $73.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $1.1329 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.51%. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 63.18%.

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.