Barclays PLC Has $534,000 Stock Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 70.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,923 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BMO. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 2,701.7% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 30,454 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,747,000 after buying an additional 29,367 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 1,411,695 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,371,000 after buying an additional 14,809 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 125,572 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,344,000 after buying an additional 55,823 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 72.9% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 588,209 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,082,000 after buying an additional 248,098 shares during the period. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,298,627 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $117,326,000 after buying an additional 60,155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BMO. Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $133.00 price target (up from $106.00) on shares of Bank of Montreal in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com lowered Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO opened at $97.04 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $95.51 and its 200 day moving average is $89.62. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $104.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $70.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.10.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a $1.1329 dividend. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.34%.

Bank of Montreal 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.