Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires 291 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,857 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $3,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,960,491,000 after purchasing an additional 576,744 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,709,215,000 after buying an additional 486,984 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,014,633,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,838,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $664,742,000 after acquiring an additional 2,044,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 6,616,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $642,016,000 after acquiring an additional 704,197 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BMO shares. CIBC lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Cibc World Mkts cut Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $99.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. The stock has a market cap of $72.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $95.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.67.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 57.35%.

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.