Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$226.46.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BMO. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$205.00 to C$230.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$226.00 to C$244.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$227.00 to C$233.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Desjardins raised their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$212.00 to C$230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$195.00 to C$196.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO opened at C$255.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of C$179.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.22. Bank of Montreal has a one year low of C$151.06 and a one year high of C$258.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$234.97 and a 200 day moving average price of C$207.95.

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The bank reported C$3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.25% and a net margin of 12.63%.The company had revenue of C$9.57 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 9.6514585 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be paid a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 30th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 50.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of Montreal news, insider Sharon Marie Haward-Laird sold 4,519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$225.85, for a total transaction of C$1,020,616.15. Also, Director William Darryl White sold 27,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$225.74, for a total value of C$6,132,678.58. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 87,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$19,676,852.84. This represents a 23.76% decrease in their position. Over the last three months, insiders sold 45,004 shares of company stock worth $10,339,904. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Company Profile

Bank of Montreal is a diversified financial-services provider based in North America, operating four business segments: Canadian personal and commercial banking, U.S. P&C banking, wealth management, and capital markets.