Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 227,694 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 14,563 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $22,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,191,193 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,294,121,000 after purchasing an additional 468,761 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 14,783,968 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,247,154,000 after buying an additional 1,417,298 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 14,495,589 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,435,002,000 after buying an additional 738,579 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 5.1% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 14,042,593 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,184,774,000 after acquiring an additional 679,340 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 0.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,326,233 shares of the bank’s stock worth $704,551,000 after acquiring an additional 29,706 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BMO. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.00.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $89.63 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.39. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $73.98 and a 52 week high of $100.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $65.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.13.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.34 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 11.89%. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1172 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.11. This represents a $4.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.99%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.79%.

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.