Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1,527.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,160,494 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,089,199 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.16% of Bank of Montreal worth $112,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 179.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 282.8% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 140.9% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 612 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BMO has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. CIBC downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Cibc World Mkts cut Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 7.1 %

NYSE BMO opened at $89.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $64.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $106.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $98.79 and a 200-day moving average of $96.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.09%.

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.