Bank of America Corp DE Has $299.37 Million Position in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Bank of America Corp DE lessened its holdings in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,684,095 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,698,492 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies were worth $299,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,651,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,243,000 after buying an additional 13,546 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Interpublic Group of Companies in the third quarter valued at $206,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Interpublic Group of Companies during the third quarter worth $107,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 1.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 295,937 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,322,000 after acquiring an additional 4,848 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,277,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,041,000 after purchasing an additional 157,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on IPG. UBS Group upgraded shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Interpublic Group of Companies from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Interpublic Group of Companies news, CFO Ellen Tobi Johnson sold 21,427 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.82, for a total transaction of $574,672.14. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 143,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,845,263.86. This trade represents a 13.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Interpublic Group of Companies Trading Down 0.1 %

IPG stock opened at $25.00 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.51 and a twelve month high of $33.05. The company has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.66 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $25.45 and a 200-day moving average of $27.58.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Interpublic Group of Companies had a return on equity of 27.10% and a net margin of 6.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.28%. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is presently 100.76%.

Interpublic Group of Companies announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $155.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Interpublic Group of Companies Company Profile

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc provides advertising and marketing services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Media, Data & Engagement Solutions, Integrated Advertising & Creativity Led Solutions, and Specialized Communications & Experiential Solutions. The Media, Data & Engagement Solutions segment provides media and communications services, digital services and products, advertising and marketing technology, e-commerce services, data management and analytics, strategic consulting, and digital brand experience under the IPG Mediabrands, UM, Initiative, Kinesso, Acxiom, Huge, MRM, and R/GA brand names.