Ballentine Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Ballentine Partners LLC cut its position in shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,390 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position 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 buying an additional 3,920,975 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Interpublic Group of Companies by 571.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,466,376 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,657,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248,062 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 168.3% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 831,434 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,186,000 after purchasing an additional 521,546 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 177.3% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 705,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,321,000 after purchasing an additional 451,205 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 44.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,356,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,447,000 after purchasing an additional 417,766 shares during the last quarter. 98.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on IPG. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a research report on Monday, January 20th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Interpublic Group of Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $34.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

Interpublic Group of Companies Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:IPG opened at $28.55 on Friday. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.30 and a 12-month high of $35.17. The firm has a market cap of $10.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.03.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.70. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Interpublic Group of Companies had a return on equity of 27.76% and a net margin of 7.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Interpublic Group of Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.26%.

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.