West Family Investments Inc. Purchases New Stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 2,374 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 96.2% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 10,200 shares of the bank’s stock worth $996,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 1,001.5% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 25,180 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 22,894 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the first quarter valued at $70,000. Rodgers Brothers Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 13.7% during the first quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 12,475 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the first quarter worth $2,442,000. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BMO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $94.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.65 billion, a PE ratio of 14.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $100.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $91.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.18.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 8 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.123 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.77%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.13%.

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.