Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Acquired by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 153,570 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,024 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $14,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,640 shares of the bank’s stock worth $752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,897 shares during the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 6,616,614 shares of the bank’s stock worth $642,016,000 after purchasing an additional 704,197 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 77.0% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 8,443 shares of the bank’s stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 3,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 380,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,959,000 after purchasing an additional 61,076 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BMO shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO stock opened at $95.26 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $69.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $99.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.97. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $106.00. 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 (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

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.