Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Buys 49,509 Shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 13.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 405,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 49,509 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies were worth $13,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 10.6% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 56,942 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,632,000 after purchasing an additional 5,445 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 7.6% in the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 9,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 32.0% in the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 14,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 2.7% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,244,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,656,000 after purchasing an additional 32,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 15.5% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 123,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,528,000 after purchasing an additional 16,500 shares during the last quarter. 98.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IPG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Interpublic Group of Companies from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Interpublic Group of Companies from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group began coverage on Interpublic Group of Companies in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Interpublic Group of Companies from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.13.

Interpublic Group of Companies Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE IPG traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $30.72. The stock had a trading volume of 2,066,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,566,049. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.20 and a 1 year high of $40.95. The stock has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of 10.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.43. 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 data on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 9.97% and a return on equity of 29.70%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.33 dividend. This is a positive change from Interpublic Group of Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is presently 46.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Christopher F. Carroll sold 18,382 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.20, for a total value of $591,900.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 42,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,364,958. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Interpublic Group of Companies news, EVP Andrew Bonzani sold 40,468 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.20, for a total transaction of $1,303,069.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,878.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Christopher F. Carroll sold 18,382 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.20, for a total transaction of $591,900.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 42,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,364,958. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,646 shares of company stock worth $8,038,601 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.