Empirical Finance LLC Has $458,000 Stock Position in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies were worth $458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 12.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,096,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $459,975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516,975 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Interpublic Group of Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $32,620,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,922,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $225,954,000 after purchasing an additional 777,456 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Interpublic Group of Companies by 101.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,068,063 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,862,000 after purchasing an additional 538,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 1,439,200.0% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 503,755 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,443,000 after purchasing an additional 503,720 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Interpublic Group of Companies from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.88.

Interpublic Group of Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Interpublic Group of Companies stock opened at $29.42 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $30.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.12. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.20 and a fifty-two week high of $40.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 9.97% and a return on equity of 29.70%. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. Interpublic Group of Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.98%.

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.