Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Buys Shares of 33,158 Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 33,158 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,220,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,321,000 after buying an additional 495 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 415.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 28,567 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,395,000 after purchasing an additional 23,026 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 232.4% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 83,240 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,518,000 after purchasing an additional 58,200 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,458,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.7% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,220 shares of the bank’s stock worth $857,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO stock opened at $100.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $73.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $104.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $97.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.26.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 63.18%.

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.