Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$167.42.

BMO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$173.00 to C$180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Bank of America increased their target price on Bank of Montreal from C$159.00 to C$176.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$180.00 to C$185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$164.00 to C$173.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Bank of Montreal from C$160.00 to C$145.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Alan Tannenbaum sold 9,824 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$175.12, for a total transaction of C$1,720,408.35. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at C$178.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of C$127.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is C$160.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$147.37. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of C$117.97 and a twelve month high of C$178.85.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.59. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 55.74%.

About Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal is a diversified financial-services provider based in North America, operating four business segments: Canadian personal and commercial banking, U.S. P&C banking, wealth management, and capital markets.