Macquarie Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG)

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Macquarie in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $31.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock. Macquarie’s target price indicates a potential upside of 4.11% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on IPG. Barclays cut their target price on Interpublic Group of Companies from $34.00 to $32.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. UBS Group cut shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $34.00 to $29.00 in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Interpublic Group of Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.81.

Interpublic Group of Companies Trading Down 5.8 %

Shares of NYSE IPG traded down $1.85 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.78. 9,295,285 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,935,047. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.07. Interpublic Group of Companies has a 12-month low of $27.53 and a 12-month high of $35.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.76. The firm has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 1.09.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.70. Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 27.98%. The company had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Interpublic Group of Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Interpublic Group of Companies will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IPG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,842,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $199,063,000 after acquiring an additional 828,150 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 3.5% in the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,710,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,117,000 after buying an additional 193,898 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,604,984 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $163,049,000 after buying an additional 255,250 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,436,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $158,157,000 after buying an additional 899,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,120,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,672,000 after buying an additional 41,939 shares during the period. 98.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.