Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Shares Cross Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$178.58 and traded as high as C$189.63. Bank of Montreal shares last traded at C$188.64, with a volume of 896,250 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$192.00 to C$201.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. National Bankshares downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$173.00 to C$181.00 in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$177.00 to C$181.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$182.00 to C$183.00 in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Bank of Montreal from C$179.00 to C$183.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$183.08.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 0.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of C$133.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$178.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$171.52.

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The bank reported C$3.28 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$9.34 billion during the quarter. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 13.57% and a return on equity of 9.04%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 9.6514585 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.