Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Free Report) TSE: BMO by 80.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,833 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 3,502 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $760,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank's stock worth $455,397,000 after purchasing an additional 625,797 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank's stock worth $432,823,000 after purchasing an additional 114,909 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank's stock worth $383,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,389 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank's stock worth $358,991,000 after purchasing an additional 248,096 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BMO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $128.40.

View Our Latest Report on BMO

Shares of BMO stock opened at $98.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm's 50-day moving average is $99.47 and its 200-day moving average is $94.54. The stock has a market cap of $71.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO - Get Free Report) TSE: BMO last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. Bank of Montreal's quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. Bank of Montreal's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

(Free Report)

Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. It operates through Canadian P&C, U.S P&C, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital Markets segments. The company's personal banking products and services include deposits, mortgages, home lending, consumer credit, small business lending, credit cards, cash management, financial and investment advice, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services comprise various of financing options and treasury and payment solutions, as well as risk management products.

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