The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) Shares Acquired by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 1,402.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,488 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,790 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies were worth $305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Interpublic Group of Companies by 12.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,516,975 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Interpublic Group of Companies during the 4th quarter worth $32,620,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 101.9% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,690,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,162,000 after acquiring an additional 853,287 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 12.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 777,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in the first quarter valued at about $20,493,000. 98.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on IPG. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $29.00 in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

Interpublic Group of Companies Price Performance

IPG opened at $31.08 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.06, a P/E/G ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $30.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.20 and a 52-week high of $35.17.

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

Interpublic Group of Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Interpublic Group of Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.98%.

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.