Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 2,177 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,990 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,177 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $2,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BMO. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 138.4% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,851,629 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $407,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,816,385 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock worth $439,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,532 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,915,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 4.9% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,761,836 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,231,564,000 after acquiring an additional 692,049 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 29.2% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,562,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $215,052,000 after purchasing an additional 579,000 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

BMO stock opened at $94.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $69.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $91.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $100.12.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.4 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.73%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 72.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

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.