Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Downgraded to Neutral Rating by CIBC

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) was downgraded by equities researchers at CIBC from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports.

BMO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $96.07 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $69.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.13.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 5,407.5% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,919 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866 shares during the period. Avant Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 162,503 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,768,000 after buying an additional 36,931 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter valued at about $346,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,215,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,184,636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,962 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.