Axa S.A. Sells 161,315 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

AXA S.A. trimmed its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 80.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,885 shares of the bank's stock after selling 161,315 shares during the quarter. AXA S.A.'s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $3,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth approximately $611,000. Firestone Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter worth $204,000. Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter worth $438,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 537,809 shares of the bank's stock worth $52,194,000 after purchasing an additional 228,983 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 42.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,838,171 shares of the bank's stock valued at $664,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044,862 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMO traded up $0.43 on Friday, hitting $99.56. The stock had a trading volume of 386,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 860,627. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $106.00. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $95.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $72.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.03.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BMO. Cibc World Mkts cut Bank of Montreal from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. CIBC lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $128.40.

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.