Analysts Set Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Target Price at $127.50

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $127.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BMO shares. Desjardins cut Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $137.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Bank of Montreal in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BMO. Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 300,456.3% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 105,510,305 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,439,190,000 after acquiring an additional 105,475,200 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,617,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,795,402,000 after acquiring an additional 544,767 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 19,225,705 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,911,635,000 after purchasing an additional 3,187,998 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 14,495,589 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,435,002,000 after purchasing an additional 738,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 38.0% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,069,787 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,318,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874,573 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 1.3 %

BMO opened at $86.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $73.98 and a twelve month high of $100.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.61.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The bank reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $5.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.96 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 8.25%. Analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be issued a $1.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 30th. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $4.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.25%.

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.