Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Bought by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 185.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 55,745 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,195 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $5,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 177.4% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,325 shares of the bank’s stock worth $808,000 after buying an additional 5,324 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $380,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 36,857 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,577,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 71.9% during the 4th quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,912 shares of the bank’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 67.8% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,645 shares of the bank’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 2,684 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BMO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. CIBC cut Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Cibc World Mkts cut Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 0.4%

BMO opened at $101.91 on Wednesday. Bank of Montreal has a one year low of $76.98 and a one year high of $106.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $95.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.35%.

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.