Atomi Financial Group Inc. Increases Stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 71.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,709 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,801 shares during the quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,454 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,321,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the 2nd quarter worth about $276,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 51,629 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,488,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 137.7% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,481 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 415.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 28,567 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,395,000 after purchasing an additional 23,026 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BMO. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $100.14 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $97.11 and a 200 day moving average of $91.04. The company has a market capitalization of $73.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $104.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a $1.1329 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 65.62%.

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.