K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Sells 353 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc reduced its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,738 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 353 shares during the quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $3,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,397,000 after acquiring an additional 625,797 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $432,823,000 after purchasing an additional 114,909 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $383,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,389 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank’s stock worth $358,991,000 after purchasing an additional 248,096 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BMO. 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. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BMO opened at $104.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $98.96 and a 200-day moving average of $93.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.98 and a fifty-two week high of $106.00.

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 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 firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued 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 4.26%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 63.18%.

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.