Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Increases Dividend to $1.09 Per Share

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO – Get Rating) (TSE:BMO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 24th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 28th will be paid a dividend of 1.085 per share by the bank on Monday, August 28th. This represents a $4.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.24%. 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.

Bank of Montreal has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Bank of Montreal has a dividend payout ratio of 43.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Bank of Montreal to earn $10.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.9%.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO stock opened at $82.89 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $81.57 and a 52 week high of $110.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $88.22 and its 200-day moving average is $93.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.12 billion, a PE 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 22.13% and a return on equity of 13.65%. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 9.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.0% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,432 shares of the bank’s stock worth $877,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 426,005 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,256,000 after purchasing an additional 22,030 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the 1st quarter worth approximately $225,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,478,058 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,651,736,000 after buying an additional 1,293,280 shares during the period. Finally, USS Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2.1% in the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 145,939 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,199,000 after buying an additional 3,071 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.78% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Company 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.