Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Grows Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 380,900 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,076 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.05% of Bank of Montreal worth $36,959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BMO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after buying an additional 576,744 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,709,215,000 after acquiring an additional 486,984 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,065,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,534,508 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter worth $1,014,633,000. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $358,991,000 after purchasing an additional 248,096 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on BMO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock 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 research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. CIBC raised Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE BMO opened at $95.26 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $99.30 and a 200 day moving average of $95.97. The company has a market capitalization of $69.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. 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.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. 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 presently 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.