Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Plans Dividend Increase – $1.09 Per Share

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO – Get Rating) (TSE:BMO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 28th will be given a dividend of 1.085 per share by the bank on Monday, August 28th. This represents a $4.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 27th. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08.

Bank of Montreal has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.6% annually over the last three years. Bank of Montreal has a dividend payout ratio of 41.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Bank of Montreal to earn $10.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.23 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.8%.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

BMO opened at $82.94 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $59.15 billion, a PE ratio of 6.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.14. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $81.57 and a 1 year high of $110.67.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO – Get Rating) (TSE:BMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The bank reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 22.13%. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 9.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BMO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter valued at about $561,431,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 82.7% during the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,404,661 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $400,992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541,161 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,478,058 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,651,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,280 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,544,892 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $864,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179,546 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,912,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $173,286,000 after acquiring an additional 662,673 shares during the period. 42.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.70.

About Bank of Montreal

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Bank of Montreal engages in the provision of banking and financial services to individuals and institutions. It operates through the following segments: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking (Canadian P&C) and United States Personal and Commercial Banking (U.S. P&C). The Canadian P&C segment refers to retail banking and financial operations in Canada.