Checchi Capital Advisers LLC Invests $244,000 in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 2,516 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 261.6% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,449,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074,389 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $760,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,397,000 after purchasing an additional 625,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% in the 3rd 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 and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE BMO opened at $103.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $99.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.82.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.1094 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.18%.

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.