TD Private Client Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 22,782 Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 22,782 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,211,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 144,108 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,965,000 after buying an additional 28,243 shares during the period. Brooklyn FI LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 43,093 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,182,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at $6,947,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,045 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $96.70 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $99.44 and its 200-day moving average is $95.40. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $70.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

About Bank of Montreal

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.