Northern Trust Corp Purchases 1,025,589 Shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Northern Trust Corp grew its position in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,239,927 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,025,589 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.41% of Interpublic Group of Companies worth $146,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 75.8% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Interpublic Group of Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. GeoWealth Management LLC grew its stake in Interpublic Group of Companies by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 3,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $107,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $141,000. 98.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on IPG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a report on Saturday, April 26th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Argus cut Interpublic Group of Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays dropped 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. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded 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. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.44.

Interpublic Group of Companies Stock Performance

IPG opened at $25.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.72. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.51 and a 1 year high of $33.05. The company has a market capitalization of $9.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 1.01.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 27.10%. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. Interpublic Group of Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.21%. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is 100.76%.

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

Insider Activity at Interpublic Group of Companies

In other Interpublic Group of Companies news, CFO Ellen Tobi Johnson sold 21,427 shares of Interpublic Group of Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.82, for a total value of $574,672.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 143,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,845,263.86. The trade was a 13.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.