Caprock Group LLC Acquires 139 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,185 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BMO. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,397,000 after buying an additional 625,797 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $432,823,000 after buying an additional 114,909 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $383,449,000 after buying an additional 3,074,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,453,718 shares of the bank’s stock worth $312,054,000 after buying an additional 50,287 shares during the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $99.71 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.98 and a fifty-two week high of $104.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.78 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.09. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.97.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a $1.1329 dividend. This represents a $4.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is 63.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on BMO. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Profile

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.