Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 157,695 Shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,277,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 157,695 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.60% of Interpublic Group of Companies worth $72,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Interpublic Group of Companies in the first quarter valued at $340,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 2.5% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 24,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $810,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 3.4% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 14,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 4.4% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,635 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 269.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 92,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,003,000 after buying an additional 67,152 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IPG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price (down from $28.00) on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $36.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $32.50 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.57.

Interpublic Group of Companies Price Performance

Shares of IPG opened at $29.83 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 twelve month low of $28.00 and a twelve month high of $35.17. The company has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.90 and a 200 day moving average of $30.67.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70. Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 7.44% and a return on equity of 27.76%. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Interpublic Group of Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.26%.

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.