Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $110.00.

OMC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Omnicom Group from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Omnicom Group from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Omnicom Group from $118.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Macquarie restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Omnicom Group in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Omnicom Group from $110.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th.

Omnicom Group Stock Performance

Shares of OMC opened at $84.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $96.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.89. Omnicom Group has a one year low of $84.43 and a one year high of $107.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $16.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.98.

Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The business services provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.79 billion. Omnicom Group had a return on equity of 36.59% and a net margin of 9.45%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.86 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Omnicom Group will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Omnicom Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 20th. Omnicom Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Omnicom Group news, CAO Andrew Castellaneta sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.29, for a total transaction of $421,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,545 shares in the company, valued at $2,479,053.05. This represents a 14.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Omnicom Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Omnicom Group by 209.7% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,311 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after buying an additional 17,815 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in Omnicom Group by 16.3% in the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Omnicom Group in the third quarter valued at $713,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Omnicom Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 489,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,562,000 after buying an additional 9,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Omnicom Group by 40.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 29,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,077,000 after buying an additional 8,643 shares during the last quarter. 91.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Omnicom Group Company Profile

Omnicom Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers advertising, marketing, and corporate communications services. It provides a range of services in the areas of advertising and media, precision marketing, commerce and branding, experiential, execution and support, public relations, and healthcare.