Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Price Target Raised to $163.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) had its price target hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $161.00 to $163.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

BMO has been the topic of several other research reports. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC raised Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE BMO opened at $104.05 on Wednesday. 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 has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $106.00. The company has a market cap of $75.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s fifty day moving average is $98.96 and its 200 day moving average is $93.76.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. Bank of Montreal’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. North Star Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,422 shares of the bank’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 5,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,602 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,865 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 6,355 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.