UBS Group AG Sells 1,608,853 Shares of Bank Of Montreal $BMO

Key Points

• UBS Group AG trimmed its stake in Bank of Montreal by 75.6% in Q4, selling 1,608,853 shares and leaving 518,524 shares (about 0.07% ownership) valued at roughly $67.3 million.
• BMO beat quarterly expectations, reporting $2.51 EPS versus a $2.35 consensus and revenue of $7.21 billion versus $6.73 billion, with revenue up about 6% year-over-year.
• BMO announced a quarterly dividend of $1.67 (annualized $6.68) with an ex-dividend date of April 29 and a yield of about 4.5%.

UBS Group AG trimmed its holdings in shares of Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 75.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 518,524 shares of the bank's stock after selling 1,608,853 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned approximately 0.07% of Bank Of Montreal worth $67,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BMO. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,742 shares of the bank's stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 2,673 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Bank Of Montreal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,018,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,364 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,368,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 166.3% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 411,108 shares of the bank's stock worth $45,518,000 after buying an additional 256,755 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 5,614.3% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the bank's stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 2,751 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BMO. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Bank Of Montreal from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bank Of Montreal from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, February 8th. Barclays downgraded shares of Bank Of Montreal from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $163.00.

Bank Of Montreal Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of BMO opened at $149.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $142.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. Bank Of Montreal has a 52-week low of $97.00 and a 52-week high of $154.48. The company has a market cap of $105.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.94.

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.16. Bank Of Montreal had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The company had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.04 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Bank Of Montreal will post 10.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank Of Montreal Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th will be paid a $1.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Bank Of Montreal's payout ratio is currently 55.75%.

Bank Of Montreal Profile

Bank of Montreal NYSE: BMO, commonly known as BMO Financial Group, is one of Canada's largest and longest-established banks. Founded in Montreal and headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the bank provides a broad range of financial services to retail, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. BMO is publicly listed in both Canada and the United States and operates under a consolidated financial services model that integrates banking, capital markets, wealth management and asset management activities.

BMO's core businesses include personal and commercial banking—offering checking and savings accounts, lending, mortgages, and small-business services—alongside wealth management and private banking through its asset and investment management divisions.

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