Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Plans $1.11 Quarterly Dividend

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of 1.1094 per share by the bank on Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th.

Bank of Montreal has raised its dividend by an average of 13.0% per year over the last three years. Bank of Montreal has a dividend payout ratio of 49.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bank of Montreal to earn $9.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.49 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.8%.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

BMO stock opened at $104.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, 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 $106.00. The firm has a market cap of $75.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.76.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BMO shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered 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. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.40.

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.