Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from C$187.00 to C$191.00. The company traded as high as C$185.88 and last traded at C$185.51, with a volume of 709227 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$184.56.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on BMO. TD Securities raised their target price on Bank of Montreal from C$182.00 to C$184.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$182.00 to C$183.00 in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$163.00 to C$178.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$181.00 to C$182.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Natl Bk Canada cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$183.08.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 1.3%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$177.48 and a 200 day moving average of C$170.51. The stock has a market capitalization of C$130.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The bank reported C$3.28 EPS for the quarter. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 9.04% and a net margin of 13.57%.The company had revenue of C$9.34 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 9.6514585 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 30th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 56.29%.

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.