Zions Bancorporation N.A. Raises Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 33,446.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 59,377 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 59,200 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $5,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TIAA Trust National Association purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth $780,000. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,709,215,000 after acquiring an additional 486,984 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,960,491,000 after purchasing an additional 576,744 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 276.7% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 324,268 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,470,000 after purchasing an additional 238,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter worth about $37,129,000. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

BMO stock opened at $97.34 on Tuesday. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $106.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $99.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.58. The company has a market capitalization of $70.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

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 net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued 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 yield of 4.56%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.40.

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.