Triasima Portfolio Management inc. Cuts Position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Triasima Portfolio Management inc. lowered its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO – Free Report) TSE: BMO by 79.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,516 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 374,184 shares during the period. Triasima Portfolio Management inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $8,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter valued at $812,644,000. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 138.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 9,872,642 shares of the bank’s stock worth $976,870,000 after acquiring an additional 5,729,145 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 38.0% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,069,787 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,318,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874,573 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 19,225,705 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,911,635,000 after purchasing an additional 3,187,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 1st quarter valued at $307,237,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group began coverage on Bank of Montreal in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. TD Securities cut Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $137.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BMO traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $82.33. 1,214,850 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 875,863. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $60.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.23. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $73.98 and a 1-year high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO – Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.46%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.58%.

Bank of Montreal 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.