Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on BMO. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. TD Securities downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $96.62 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.83. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.98 and a fifty-two week high of $104.63. The firm has a market cap of $70.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.10. 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.69%. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.34%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 326,510 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,773,000 after buying an additional 5,821 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 70.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 2,455 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the third 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,321,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $303,130,000 after purchasing an additional 307,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Company 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.