Norges Bank Invests $1.01 Billion in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 10,464,521 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,014,633,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.43% of Bank of Montreal as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 165,148 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,919,000 after purchasing an additional 10,792 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 109.0% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,939 shares of the bank’s stock worth $987,000 after buying an additional 5,705 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the third quarter worth approximately $1,502,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 111.4% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 8,321 shares of the bank’s stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 4,384 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. 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 raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.5 %

Bank of Montreal stock opened at $97.07 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. The company has a market cap of $70.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.72.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.57%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.09%.

Bank of Montreal 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.