Davis Rea LTD. Sells 2,235 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Davis Rea LTD. trimmed its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 43.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,925 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,235 shares during the quarter. Davis Rea LTD.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $264,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BMO. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,709,247 shares of the bank’s stock worth $166,985,000 after acquiring an additional 12,926 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,975 shares of the bank’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 52.6% in the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 37,503 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,935 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 128,969 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,597,000 after purchasing an additional 20,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,429 shares of the bank’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO stock opened at $91.69 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.47, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $88.86 and a 200 day moving average of $88.08. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $74.48 and a 52 week high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders 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 yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BMO shares. Bank of America lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. TD Securities lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.