Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $163.00.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BMO. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank Of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bank Of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research report on Wednesday.

Institutional Trading of Bank Of Montreal

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BMO. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bank Of Montreal by 141.6% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,844 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new stake in Bank Of Montreal in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 74,131 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,086,000 after buying an additional 5,191 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 710 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal during the 1st quarter worth about $256,000. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank Of Montreal Trading Down 0.6%

Bank Of Montreal stock opened at $125.60 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.43 and its 200-day moving average is $110.03. 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 has a 1 year low of $85.40 and a 1 year high of $131.36. The company has a market cap of $89.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.37, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.03.

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 26th. The bank reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Bank Of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank Of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 30th will be given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 30th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. This is a boost from Bank Of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. Bank Of Montreal’s payout ratio is 58.63%.

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.