WoodTrust Financial Corp Cuts Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

WoodTrust Financial Corp decreased its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 90.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,714 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 24,999 shares during the period. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 31,812 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 72.9% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 588,209 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,082,000 after purchasing an additional 248,098 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 190,255 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,760,000 after purchasing an additional 35,614 shares during the last quarter. REDW Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 44.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,103 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank cut Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays cut their price target on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 2.0 %

BMO stock opened at $93.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $67.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.07. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.83 and a fifty-two week high of $100.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 8 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 4.82%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.13%.

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.