Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 310,621 Shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,271,759 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 310,621 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies were worth $119,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of IPG. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 25,637.0% during the fourth 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 raised its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 15.1% during the third 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 10.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,402,349 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $139,246,000 after acquiring an additional 417,741 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,041,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,205,662 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,783,000 after acquiring an additional 289,014 shares during the last quarter. 98.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on IPG. BNP Paribas raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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 note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Interpublic Group of Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.50.

Interpublic Group of Companies Price Performance

Shares of IPG opened at $27.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.30 and a fifty-two week high of $35.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.62.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Analysts anticipate that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Interpublic Group of Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.13%.

Interpublic Group of Companies announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $155.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Interpublic Group of Companies 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.