MQS Management LLC Makes New $310,000 Investment in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,702 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BMO. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Bank of Montreal in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,258,000. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $439,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,532 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 47.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 14,974 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 4,826 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 50,961 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,273,000 after buying an additional 21,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,629,370 shares of the bank’s stock worth $136,623,000 after buying an additional 48,139 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BMO. UBS Group began coverage on Bank of Montreal in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Desjardins downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $123.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $89.91 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $65.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $73.98 and a twelve month high of $100.12. The company’s fifty day moving average is $84.80 and its 200 day moving average is $88.83.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.00%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.25%.

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.