Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Sells 8,221 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO – Get Rating) (TSE:BMO) by 31.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,909 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 8,221 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $1,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BMO. FORA Capital LLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 9,858 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $893,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Tradewinds LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth about $484,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,682 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,781,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the period. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 6,173 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 42.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Bank of Montreal in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.70.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $82.89 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $88.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $81.57 and a 1 year high of $110.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.76, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.14.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO – Get Rating) (TSE:BMO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The bank reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by $0.06. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 22.13%. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 9.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 28th will be given a $1.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 27th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. This represents a $4.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.24%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.50%.

Bank of Montreal Profile

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Bank of Montreal engages in the provision of banking and financial services to individuals and institutions. It operates through the following segments: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking (Canadian P&C) and United States Personal and Commercial Banking (U.S. P&C). The Canadian P&C segment refers to retail banking and financial operations in Canada.