Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$173.54.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BMO. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$159.00 to C$176.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Scotiabank set a C$179.00 price objective on Bank of Montreal and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. National Bankshares lowered Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$173.00 to C$181.00 in a report on Monday, November 17th. Desjardins increased their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$156.00 to C$165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$170.00 to C$182.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of TSE BMO opened at C$176.91 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of C$126.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$176.34 and a 200 day moving average price of C$162.94. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of C$121.31 and a 52-week high of C$182.90.

Bank of Montreal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.74%.

Bank of Montreal Company Profile

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.