Royal Bank of Canada Upgrades Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) to “Outperform”

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) was upgraded by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $161.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $133.00. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 63.57% from the stock’s current price.

BMO has been the subject of a number of other reports. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO stock opened at $98.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $71.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.08. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $104.63.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BMO. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 42,247.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 17,786 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after purchasing an additional 17,744 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the second quarter valued at approximately $235,000. AGF Management Ltd. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2.0% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,799,287 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $158,840,000 after buying an additional 34,667 shares in the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 62.6% in the second quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,738 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 23.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 164,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,810,000 after acquiring an additional 31,374 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.