First Affirmative Financial Network Cuts Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

First Affirmative Financial Network reduced its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,096 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 390 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,449,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074,389 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at $760,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,397,000 after buying an additional 625,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,321,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $303,130,000 after buying an additional 307,466 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BMO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:BMO opened at $99.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $72.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $104.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.57.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.1329 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.55%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.18%.

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.