Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Shares Cross Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) shares crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$125.42 and traded as high as C$143.78. Bank of Montreal shares last traded at C$143.32, with a volume of 1,560,077 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$114.00 to C$131.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$143.00 to C$148.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from C$134.00 to C$150.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a 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 target price for the stock from C$133.00 to C$161.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$135.92.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 0.3 %

The company’s 50 day moving average is C$137.48 and its 200 day moving average is C$125.61. The firm has a market capitalization of C$104.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.16.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is 71.35%.

Insider Activity at Bank of Montreal

In related news, Director William Darryl White sold 11,376 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$140.79, for a total transaction of C$1,601,592.91. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal is a diversified financial-services provider based in North America, operating four business segments: Canadian personal and commercial banking, U.S. P&C banking, wealth management, and capital markets.