Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,900,000 shares, a drop of 18.7% from the January 31st total of 10,950,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 644,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 13.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BMO shares. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 44.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,103 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 190,255 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,760,000 after purchasing an additional 35,614 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 72.9% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 588,209 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,082,000 after buying an additional 248,098 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 31,812 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the period. Finally, Gold Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 20,905 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE BMO opened at $101.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $106.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $99.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.24. 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 (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 56.83%.

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.