Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 4,872 Shares of Bank Of Montreal $BMO

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 334,046 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,872 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Bank Of Montreal were worth $37,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 213.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,259,505 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $406,825,000 after buying an additional 2,899,061 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Bank Of Montreal by 66.5% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,676,637 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $351,154,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469,084 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bank Of Montreal by 3.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,194,013 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,567,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,237 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 19.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,842,134 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $655,674,000 after acquiring an additional 939,156 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank Of Montreal during the 2nd quarter worth about $612,000. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank Of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Bank Of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $168.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised Bank Of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.00.

Bank Of Montreal Trading Up 1.3%

BMO stock opened at $125.38 on Thursday. Bank Of Montreal has a 52 week low of $85.40 and a 52 week high of $131.36. The company has a market capitalization of $89.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 26th. The bank reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.21. Bank Of Montreal had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank Of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

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.