StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas raised Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Argus downgraded Interpublic Group of Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $26.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Interpublic Group of Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.50.

Interpublic Group of Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:IPG opened at $27.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80 and a beta of 1.11. Interpublic Group of Companies has a 1-year low of $26.30 and a 1-year high of $35.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.04). Interpublic Group of Companies had a return on equity of 27.10% and a net margin of 6.45%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Interpublic Group of Companies will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Interpublic Group of Companies declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $155.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Interpublic Group of Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is 72.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IPG. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 13,210,446 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $370,157,000 after acquiring an additional 7,693,636 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 25,637.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,403,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $207,439,000 after acquiring an additional 7,374,491 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,844,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $943,993,000 after acquiring an additional 3,920,975 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 133.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 5,402,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $150,393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,089,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 12,548.6% during the 4th quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 2,425,247 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,955,000 after acquiring an additional 2,406,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.43% of the company’s stock.

About Interpublic Group of Companies

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.