Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 66,764 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,843 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies were worth $1,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,096,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $459,975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516,975 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,922,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $225,954,000 after purchasing an additional 777,456 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,842,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $199,063,000 after acquiring an additional 828,150 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,604,984 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $163,049,000 after acquiring an additional 255,250 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,516,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $180,005,000 after acquiring an additional 154,355 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IPG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Interpublic Group of Companies from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Interpublic Group of Companies from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Macquarie dropped their price objective on Interpublic Group of Companies from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley cut Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, UBS Group cut Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $29.00 in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Interpublic Group of Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.00.

Interpublic Group of Companies Price Performance

Shares of IPG stock opened at $31.11 on Monday. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.20 and a twelve month high of $35.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.07, a P/E/G ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.33 billion. Interpublic Group of Companies had a return on equity of 27.98% and a net margin of 9.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is 46.98%.

Interpublic Group of Companies Company 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.