Cetera Investment Advisers Grows Stock Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 185.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,745 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 36,195 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $5,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after purchasing an additional 576,744 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,709,215,000 after purchasing an additional 486,984 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at $1,014,633,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in 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 period. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 6,616,614 shares of the bank's stock worth $642,016,000 after acquiring an additional 704,197 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BMO. Cibc World Mkts lowered Bank of Montreal from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised Bank of Montreal from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. CIBC lowered Bank of Montreal from a "sector outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Thursday. They issued a "sector perform" rating for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

NYSE:BMO traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $102.78. 1,555,415 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 853,489. The firm has a market cap of $74.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.03. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $106.00. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $95.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio is 57.35%.

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.