Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Acquired by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 380,900 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,076 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $36,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after purchasing an additional 576,744 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,709,215,000 after buying an additional 486,984 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,065,474,000 after buying an additional 1,534,508 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,014,633,000. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank’s stock worth $358,991,000 after acquiring an additional 248,096 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $95.26 on Monday. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $106.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $99.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.97. The company has a market capitalization of $69.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BMO. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.40.

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.