Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Stake Increased by Fiera Capital Corp

Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,453,718 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 50,287 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp owned 0.47% of Bank of Montreal worth $312,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,617,952 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,795,402,000 after purchasing an additional 544,767 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,761,836 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,231,564,000 after acquiring an additional 692,049 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,312,320 shares of the bank’s stock worth $613,138,000 after purchasing an additional 463,924 shares during the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $439,705,000 after buying an additional 1,412,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 138.4% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,851,629 shares of the bank’s stock worth $407,282,000 after acquiring an additional 2,816,385 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMO traded down $0.62 on Friday, reaching $92.61. 124,655 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 899,998. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.41 and a 200-day moving average of $88.07. The company has a market capitalization of $67.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.83 and a twelve month high of $100.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.85%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 72.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BMO shares. Bank of America downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

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.