Stephens Inc. AR Takes Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Stephens Inc. AR acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,296 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,065,474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,534,508 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,397,000 after acquiring an additional 625,797 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $432,823,000 after acquiring an additional 114,909 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,449,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,453,718 shares of the bank’s stock worth $312,054,000 after acquiring an additional 50,287 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO opened at $101.08 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $104.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 4.48%. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BMO. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a 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 report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.00.

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.