Share Buyback Plan Declared by Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) Board of Directors

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $155.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on IPG. Barclays upgraded Interpublic Group of Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $27.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

Interpublic Group of Companies Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:IPG opened at $27.08 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $28.35 and its 200 day moving average is $29.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Interpublic Group of Companies has a 12 month low of $26.30 and a 12 month high of $35.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 1.11.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last issued its earnings results 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 7.44% and a return on equity of 27.76%. 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 will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.87%. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is 62.26%.

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.