Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Increases Dividend to C$1.67 Per Share

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of 1.67 per share by the bank on Thursday, February 26th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This is a 2.5% increase from Bank Of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63.

Bank Of Montreal has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Bank Of Montreal has a dividend payout ratio of 50.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bank Of Montreal to earn $9.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.9%.

Bank Of Montreal Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of BMO stock traded down $0.10 on Thursday, hitting $126.66. 1,173,456 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 669,788. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.05. Bank Of Montreal has a one year low of $85.40 and a one year high of $131.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BMO. Wall Street Zen cut Bank Of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Bank Of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $168.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank Of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.00.

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.