Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Has $13.97 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 24.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 144,108 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 28,243 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $13,965,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 708,767 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,786,000 after purchasing an additional 40,135 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,913,716 shares of the bank’s stock worth $185,694,000 after purchasing an additional 64,799 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the bank’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,703 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter worth $346,000. Finally, Five Oceans Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter worth $327,000. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $98.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.47 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $106.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $99.47 and a 200 day moving average of $95.20. 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 (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” 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 Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” 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.