Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Acquired by Probity Advisors Inc.

Probity Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,876 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $1,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 16.8% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 34,231 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,088,000 after purchasing an additional 4,918 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,298,627 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,326,000 after buying an additional 60,155 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the bank’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 54.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the bank’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on BMO. TD Securities cut Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Bank of Montreal in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $93.85 on Thursday. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $73.98 and a twelve month high of $100.12. The company has a market capitalization of $68.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $87.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.31.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.79%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.08%.

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.