Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$124.69.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from C$134.00 to C$117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank downgraded Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from C$123.00 to C$112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Cormark reduced their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$129.00 to C$118.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities raised their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$114.00 to C$131.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$118.00 to C$106.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at C$131.48 on Thursday. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of C$107.16 and a 12-month high of C$133.95. The business has a 50-day moving average price of C$124.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$121.00. The firm has a market cap of C$95.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.16.

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported C$2.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$2.72 by C($0.08). The firm had revenue of C$8.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$8.23 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 21.20% and a return on equity of 8.49%. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 9.6514585 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.72%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.35%.

Insider Activity at Bank of Montreal

In other news, Senior Officer David Robert Casper sold 12,819 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$121.85, for a total value of C$1,562,007.97. Also, Senior Officer Steven Lloyd Tennyson sold 7,908 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$112.16, for a total transaction of C$886,977.10. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Bank of Montreal

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.