Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $1.36 EPS

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36, Briefing.com reports. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.8 %

BMO stock traded down $0.88 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $103.27. The stock had a trading volume of 294,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 613,141. The company has a market capitalization of $75.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. 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 has a one year low of $76.98 and a one year high of $106.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $98.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.68.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a $1.1329 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BMO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.40.

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.