Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Makes New Investment in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 44,409 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,309,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Aviva PLC increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 439,079 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,541,000 after buying an additional 95,848 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 471.5% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 452,086 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,866,000 after acquiring an additional 372,977 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 4,963 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,297,626 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $422,450,000 after acquiring an additional 975,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,376 shares of the bank’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. CIBC lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $89.27 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $98.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

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.