SNS Financial Group LLC Acquires New Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

SNS Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,065 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BMO. Passumpsic Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 5,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,602 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,865 shares of the bank’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BMO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $100.91 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $98.62 and a 200-day moving average of $93.07. The firm has a market cap of $73.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $104.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $1.1329 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.32%.

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.