Kiker Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Shares in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Kiker Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 21,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $613,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 25,637.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,403,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $207,439,000 after acquiring an additional 7,374,491 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 15.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,844,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $943,993,000 after purchasing an additional 3,920,975 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Interpublic Group of Companies by 133.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 5,402,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $150,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089,387 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC raised its stake in Interpublic Group of Companies by 12,548.6% during the 4th quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 2,425,247 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,955,000 after buying an additional 2,406,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $51,794,000. Institutional investors own 98.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Interpublic Group of Companies in a report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Argus downgraded Interpublic Group of Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Interpublic Group of Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ellen Tobi Johnson sold 21,427 shares of Interpublic Group of Companies stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.82, for a total value of $574,672.14. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 143,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,845,263.86. The trade was a 13.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Interpublic Group of Companies Price Performance

Shares of Interpublic Group of Companies stock opened at $26.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.85 and a 52 week high of $33.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.45 and a beta of 1.14.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.04). Interpublic Group of Companies had a return on equity of 27.10% and a net margin of 6.45%. As a group, 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued 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 4.99%. Interpublic Group of Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.13%.

Interpublic Group of Companies announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $155.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.