Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$26.74 and last traded at C$143.47, with a volume of 635775 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$143.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Securities boosted their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$114.00 to C$131.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from C$134.00 to C$150.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$143.00 to C$148.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from C$147.00 to C$160.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$135.92.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.0 %

The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$138.28 and its 200-day moving average price is C$126.29. The firm has a market cap of C$105.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.16.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 71.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of Montreal news, Director William Darryl White sold 11,376 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$140.79, for a total transaction of C$1,601,592.91. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal is a diversified financial-services provider based in North America, operating four business segments: Canadian personal and commercial banking, U.S. P&C banking, wealth management, and capital markets.