FIL Ltd Increases Stock Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 25.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,169,083 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 445,303 shares during the period. FIL Ltd owned about 0.30% of Bank of Montreal worth $210,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 179.5% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the bank's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 282.8% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the bank's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 140.9% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 612 shares of the bank's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company's stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 1.0 %

BMO stock traded up $0.93 during trading on Monday, reaching $92.07. 104,695 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 861,789. The firm's 50 day moving average is $97.42 and its 200 day moving average is $96.22. The firm has a market cap of $66.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal's revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS 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 dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.