Legal & General Group Plc Boosts Holdings in Bank Of Montreal $BMO

Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,550,324 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,658 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Bank Of Montreal were worth $591,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Code Waechter LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 4,486 shares of the bank’s stock worth $582,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 317 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 17,780 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,121 shares of the bank’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the bank’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BMO. Zacks Research cut Bank Of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays cut Bank Of Montreal from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Bank Of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 8th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank Of Montreal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $163.00.

Bank Of Montreal Stock Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $161.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $146.16 and its 200 day moving average is $138.18. Bank Of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $102.70 and a fifty-two week high of $161.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.16. Bank Of Montreal had a return on equity of 12.16% and a net margin of 11.76%.The company had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.04 EPS. Bank Of Montreal’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank Of Montreal will post 11.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank Of Montreal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 29th. Bank Of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.75%.

Bank Of Montreal Profile

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO), commonly known as BMO Financial Group, is one of Canada’s largest and longest-established banks. Founded in Montreal and headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the bank provides a broad range of financial services to retail, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. BMO is publicly listed in both Canada and the United States and operates under a consolidated financial services model that integrates banking, capital markets, wealth management and asset management activities.

BMO’s core businesses include personal and commercial banking—offering checking and savings accounts, lending, mortgages, and small-business services—alongside wealth management and private banking through its asset and investment management divisions.