Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 7,823 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 334,333 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,823 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $32,416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,960,491,000 after acquiring an additional 576,744 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,709,215,000 after purchasing an additional 486,984 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,534,508 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,014,633,000. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 6,616,614 shares of the bank’s stock worth $642,016,000 after acquiring an additional 704,197 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 7.1 %

Shares of NYSE BMO opened at $89.27 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $98.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $64.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.98 and a fifty-two week high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 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.