Certuity LLC Has $433,000 Stock Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Certuity LLC raised its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,467 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 538 shares during the period. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BMO. Stephens Inc. AR acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter valued at $320,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 110.2% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,051 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at about $205,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $345,000. Finally, Choreo LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BMO shares. 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 raised 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 research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

BMO stock opened at $98.66 on Thursday. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $98.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.36. The firm has a market cap of $72.02 billion, a PE ratio of 14.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.09.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $1.1329 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 63.32%.

Bank of Montreal Company 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.