GE seeks sale of asset management arm amid industrial focus push

Image: BMO Bank of Montreal head office in Montreal, Canada. Bank Of Montreal has a 52 week low of $48.17 and a 52 week high of $78.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.54 billion and a P/E ratio of 11.00.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 26th. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.80.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock.

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO): 4 Analyst have given the stock of Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) a near short term price target of $59.94. As per the latest research report, the brokerage house lowers the price target to $81 per share from a prior target of $83.

Shares of Bank of Montreal appreciated by 0.42% during the last five trading days but lost 8.09% on a 4-week basis.

Out of 6 brokers covering Bank Of Montreal, 2 rate it a Buy, 5 indicate a Hold while 1 suggest a Sell. The standard deviation reading, which is a measure by which the stock price is expected to swing away from the mean estimate, is at $3.91.

Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) is a financial services firm. The ideal buyer is another investment management firm. Unloading the bulk of the GE Capital arm is part of his strategy to focus on the industrial operations whose products include jet engines, medical scanners and oilfield equipment.

This is yet another in a long list of moves made by GE since announcing in April it plans to sell off the majority of its financial businesses. Additionally, it has operations in Europe, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and Asia.

“GE Asset Management has world-class investment capabilities and an experienced, talented team that has done a terrific job managing assets for benefit plans serving GE employees and retirees, as well as other investors”, GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said in a statement.

BMO will be acquiring the largest financier to the commercial truck and trailer segment in North America.

“Given our strong capital position, we had the flexibility to take advantage of this unique opportunity to grow our commercial customer base”, said Bill Downe, BMO’s chief executive officer.