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

Shares of Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$201.33.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BMO. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$195.00 to C$208.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Bank of Montreal from C$209.00 to C$219.00 in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Bank of Montreal from C$218.00 to C$224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays lowered Bank of Montreal from an “equal weight” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Bank of Montreal from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$183.00 to C$214.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

BMO stock opened at C$189.64 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$191.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$183.26. The company has a market cap of C$133.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.29. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of C$121.31 and a 12-month high of C$204.57.

Bank of Montreal Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued a $1.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.33%.

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.