The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) Short Interest Update

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 23,930,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the June 30th total of 22,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,810,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.3 days. Currently, 6.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Interpublic Group of Companies

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IPG. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 229,511 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,491,000 after acquiring an additional 105,858 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 13.9% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 405,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,236,000 after acquiring an additional 49,509 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 15.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 989,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,281,000 after acquiring an additional 129,215 shares during the last quarter. Cowen AND Company LLC bought a new position in Interpublic Group of Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $871,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Interpublic Group of Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,620,000. Institutional investors own 98.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IPG. Barclays cut their price target on Interpublic Group of Companies from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Macquarie cut their target price on Interpublic Group of Companies from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Interpublic Group of Companies from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America cut their target price on Interpublic Group of Companies from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.13.

Interpublic Group of Companies Price Performance

Interpublic Group of Companies stock traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.97. 4,904,877 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,961,576. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $29.97 and a 200 day moving average of $31.21. Interpublic Group of Companies has a 1-year low of $27.20 and a 1-year high of $35.24. The company has a market capitalization of $12.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.12.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.33 billion. Interpublic Group of Companies had a return on equity of 27.98% and a net margin of 9.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Interpublic Group of Companies will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is presently 46.98%.

Interpublic Group of Companies Company 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.