Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Short Interest Update

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,520,000 shares, a drop of 59.0% from the October 31st total of 13,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 971,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.7 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO stock traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $95.25. The company had a trading volume of 208,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 888,089. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $69.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $92.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.34. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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 period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 70.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% during 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 period. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on BMO. Bank of America downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Scotiabank cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $123.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. 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, StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

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.