Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Sold by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lowered its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,500 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 13,100 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $2,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BMO. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,975 shares of the bank’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 10.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,429 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 7.2% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,022 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the first quarter valued at approximately $542,000. Finally, Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 0.4% in the first quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 69,514 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,789,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $90.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $89.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.09. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $1.123 dividend. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 72.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on BMO shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. TD Securities lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Company 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.