Wealth Alliance Takes $240,000 Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Wealth Alliance bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,424 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BMO. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 486,421 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,219,000 after acquiring an additional 77,285 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 4.2% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 171,717 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,488,000 after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,622 shares of the bank’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 848,655 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,966,000 after acquiring an additional 104,490 shares during the period. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $249,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Bank of Montreal in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Bank of Montreal in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.00.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 0.0 %

Bank of Montreal stock opened at $90.99 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $94.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.67. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $73.98 and a 52 week high of $100.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.13.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by ($0.34). The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.34 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 11.89%. Research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.94 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.1172 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $4.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.91%. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.11. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.02%.

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.