Wrapmanager Inc. Buys Shares of 2,310 Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Wrapmanager Inc. bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 2,310 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at $346,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2,701.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 30,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 29,367 shares in the last quarter. Five Oceans Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at $327,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 80.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 125,572 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,344,000 after purchasing an additional 55,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 72.9% in the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 588,209 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,082,000 after purchasing an additional 248,098 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $104.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $75.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. 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 has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $106.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.68.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The business 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%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. Analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a $1.1329 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BMO. StockNews.com cut Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.00.

About Bank of Montreal

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.