Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 23,166 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,608,452 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 23,166 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $156,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BMO. IFP Advisors Inc boosted 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $32,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 140.9% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 612 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 7.1 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $89.27 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.15. The stock has a market cap of $64.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of $76.98 and a 12 month high of $106.00. 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. 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 4.97%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

Bank of Montreal 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.