Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Bought by Gold Investment Management Ltd.

Gold Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,148 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $2,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 282.8% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 140.9% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 612 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMO has been the subject of a number of research reports. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Bank of Montreal stock opened at $97.00 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $99.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.97. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $106.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.90, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.57%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.09%.

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.