Peak6 LLC Purchases New Shares in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

PEAK6 LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 16,498 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of IPG. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Interpublic Group of Companies by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 42,496 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,191,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 69.5% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,294 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $421,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,325,000. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 1,030,630 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $28,878,000 after purchasing an additional 45,894 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IPG has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of 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. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Interpublic Group of Companies in a research note on Saturday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. UBS Group raised Interpublic Group of Companies from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $32.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Interpublic Group of Companies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Ellen Tobi Johnson sold 21,427 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.82, for a total value of $574,672.14. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 143,373 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,845,263.86. This represents a 13.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Interpublic Group of Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IPG traded down $0.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $24.58. 4,953,737 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,129,840. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50-day moving average price is $25.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.94. 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 Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.51 and a 1-year high of $33.05.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.98 billion. Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 27.10%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.37%. Interpublic Group of Companies's payout ratio is currently 72.13%.

Interpublic Group of Companies declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors 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.