Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Short Interest Down 5.3% in March

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,370,000 shares, a decrease of 5.3% from the February 29th total of 6,730,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 678,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BMO shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 3rd. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.00.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of BMO opened at $97.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.63, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $73.98 and a twelve month high of $100.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.87.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by ($0.34). Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 7.40%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.34 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 8.94 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.1172 per share. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $4.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is 62.02%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BMO. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 3.0% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,432 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 426,005 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,256,000 after buying an additional 22,030 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bank of Montreal during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 6.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,478,058 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,651,736,000 after buying an additional 1,293,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, USS Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.1% in the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 145,939 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,199,000 after acquiring an additional 3,071 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.