Short Interest in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Declines By 18.7%

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,900,000 shares, a drop of 18.7% from the January 31st total of 10,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 644,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 13.8 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 282.8% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the third quarter valued at $45,000. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.1 %

BMO traded down $0.10 on Wednesday, hitting $99.43. The company had a trading volume of 643,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 630,525. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $99.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.34. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $106.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The firm had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. Analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 56.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Company 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.