Caprock Group LLC Increases Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,185 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,969 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 23.4% during the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,908 shares of the bank’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 740 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 54.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the bank’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Bank of Montreal during the third quarter valued at $226,000. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 16.0% in the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE BMO opened at $99.71 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $104.63. The firm has a market cap of $72.78 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $1.1329 dividend. 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. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is 63.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on BMO. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded 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 report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.00.

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.