Aspire Private Capital LLC Cuts Stake in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Aspire Private Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 75.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,209 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,763 shares during the quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC’s holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies were worth $170,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of IPG. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 55.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 49.2% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 7,911 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 2,609 shares during the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC raised its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 68,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,952,000 after buying an additional 10,430 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,118,433 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,054,000 after buying an additional 5,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 47.2% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 67,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,928,000 after buying an additional 21,579 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Interpublic Group of Companies

In other news, EVP Andrew Bonzani sold 40,468 shares of Interpublic Group of Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.20, for a total transaction of $1,303,069.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,431 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,878.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Andrew Bonzani sold 40,468 shares of Interpublic Group of Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.20, for a total transaction of $1,303,069.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,431 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,878.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Philippe Krakowsky sold 150,403 shares of Interpublic Group of Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.20, for a total transaction of $4,842,976.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 415,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,387,987.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,646 shares of company stock worth $8,038,601 over the last ninety days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on IPG shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a report on Thursday, January 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Interpublic Group of Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.25.

Interpublic Group of Companies Price Performance

NYSE:IPG traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.08. 685,930 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,015,339. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.34. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.20 and a 1 year high of $40.95. The company has a market cap of $11.73 billion, a PE ratio of 10.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.13.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.02. Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 10.09% and a return on equity of 30.52%. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.78 EPS for the current year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This is an increase from Interpublic Group of Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is 46.32%.

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.