O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,570 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,024 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $14,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 109.0% during 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 in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.3% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,602 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 47.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the third quarter valued at $357,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BMO. Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

NYSE BMO opened at $95.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $106.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.97.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.66%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.