Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Sold by Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lowered its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 155,100 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 11,400 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $14,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,617,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,795,402,000 after buying an additional 544,767 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position 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 buying an additional 692,049 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 6.8% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,312,320 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $613,138,000 after buying an additional 463,924 shares during the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 36.9% in the second quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $439,705,000 after buying an additional 1,412,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,816,385 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $90.06 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.04. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.83 and a fifty-two week high of $100.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.10. 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 (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $1.123 per share. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.99%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 72.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com lowered Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank lowered Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

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.