KLCM Advisors Inc. Buys 387 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

KLCM Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,538 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 5,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,602 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,865 shares of the bank’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on BMO. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of BMO stock opened at $101.08 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.09. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $104.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.62.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $1.1329 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 63.18%.

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.