Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Trading Up 5.8% – What’s Next?

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO)’s stock price traded up 5.8% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $105.78 and last traded at $105.57. 256,239 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 585,971 shares. The stock had previously closed at $99.78.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BMO. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. 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 upgraded shares of 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 Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $75.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.1329 per share. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.36%. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BMO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after purchasing an additional 576,744 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,709,215,000 after acquiring an additional 486,984 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,833,065 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,244,284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,712 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,215,628 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,184,636,000 after buying an additional 1,630,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter valued at $1,014,633,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.