First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Takes Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,480 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $435,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BMO. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 3,074,389 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $760,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 625,797 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,321,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $303,130,000 after purchasing an additional 307,466 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

BMO opened at $100.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $97.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $73.56 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, 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.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a $1.1329 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.50%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 65.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.