Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$27.66 and last traded at C$235.42, with a volume of 709096 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$239.23.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BMO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods set a C$295.00 price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Bank of Montreal from C$259.00 to C$262.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Bank of Montreal from C$233.50 to C$268.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. National Bank Financial set a C$278.00 target price on Bank of Montreal and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$230.00 to C$241.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$257.36.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$164.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is C$249.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$221.33.

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 25th. The bank reported C$2.38 EPS for the quarter. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 11.75%.The business had revenue of C$9.90 billion for the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 9.6514585 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th were issued a dividend of $1.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 30th. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Tayfun Tuzun sold 20,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$236.69, for a total transaction of C$4,804,807.00. Also, insider Mona Elizabeth Malone sold 4,517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$244.61, for a total transaction of C$1,104,903.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$430,024.38. The trade was a 71.98% decrease in their position. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,452 shares of company stock valued at $9,886,849. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of Montreal Company Profile

Bank of Montreal is a diversified financial-services provider based in North America, operating four business segments: Canadian personal and commercial banking, U.S. P&C banking, wealth management, and capital markets.