Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Grows Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 24.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 144,108 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,243 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $13,965,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.6% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 30,990 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 8.7% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,046 shares of the bank’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the third quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.1% in the third quarter. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. now owns 214,070 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,315,000 after purchasing an additional 8,493 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 0.4 %

BMO opened at $98.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $71.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $99.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.20. Bank of Montreal has a one year low of $76.98 and a one year 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.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.53%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 57.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.