The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Makes New $416.64 Million Investment in Bank Of Montreal $BMO

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,361,978 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $416,645,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,059,320,000. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in Bank Of Montreal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $920,002,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Bank Of Montreal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $677,074,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Bank Of Montreal by 74.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,817,406 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $495,461,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal during the second quarter valued at approximately $235,791,000. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BMO. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered shares of Bank Of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Desjardins reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Bank Of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $163.00.

Bank Of Montreal Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:BMO opened at $172.22 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $177.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $158.64. Bank Of Montreal has a 12 month low of $113.60 and a 12 month high of $187.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $120.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.94.

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The bank reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.54 by $0.14. Bank Of Montreal had a net margin of 12.60% and a return on equity of 13.04%. The company had revenue of $7.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.62 earnings per share. Bank Of Montreal’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Bank Of Montreal will post 10.49 EPS for the current year.

Bank Of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th will be given a dividend of $1.71 per share. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 30th. This is a positive change from Bank Of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. Bank Of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

Bank Of Montreal Company Profile

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO), commonly known as BMO Financial Group, is one of Canada’s largest and longest-established banks. Founded in Montreal and headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the bank provides a broad range of financial services to retail, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. BMO is publicly listed in both Canada and the United States and operates under a consolidated financial services model that integrates banking, capital markets, wealth management and asset management activities.

BMO’s core businesses include personal and commercial banking—offering checking and savings accounts, lending, mortgages, and small-business services—alongside wealth management and private banking through its asset and investment management divisions.