New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New $609,000 Investment in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 21,735 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 75.8% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Interpublic Group of Companies during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Interpublic Group of Companies in the third quarter worth $107,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in Interpublic Group of Companies by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 7,037 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. 98.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on IPG. Argus lowered shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group raised Interpublic Group of Companies from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $27.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Interpublic Group of Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.50.

Insider Activity at Interpublic Group of Companies

In other Interpublic Group of Companies news, CFO Ellen Tobi Johnson sold 21,427 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,845,263.86. This represents a 13.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Interpublic Group of Companies Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of IPG stock opened at $27.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.88. The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.85 and a 1 year high of $33.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.04). Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 6.45% and a return on equity of 27.10%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.87%. Interpublic Group of Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.13%.

Interpublic Group of Companies announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $155.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board 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.