WPP (NYSE:WPP) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume After Dividend Announcement

WPP plc (NYSE:WPP) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. 867,710 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 327% from the previous session’s volume of 203,331 shares.The stock last traded at $40.31 and had previously closed at $41.06.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, July 4th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.9728 per share. This is a boost from WPP’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.95. This represents a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. WPP’s payout ratio is currently 32.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WPP. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of WPP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut WPP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays cut WPP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday.

WPP Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.69 and a 200 day moving average of $49.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.25.

Institutional Trading of WPP

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in WPP by 47.9% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,356,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $274,016,000 after buying an additional 1,734,750 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in WPP during the third quarter worth about $35,757,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in WPP by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,623,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $83,472,000 after buying an additional 172,212 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in WPP during the fourth quarter worth about $8,724,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in WPP by 83.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 253,640 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,037,000 after buying an additional 115,416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 4.34% of the company’s stock.

WPP Company Profile

WPP plc, a creative transformation company, provides communications, experience, commerce, and technology services in North America, the United Kingdom, Western Continental Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and Eastern Europe. The company operates through three segments: Global Integrated Agencies, Public Relations, and Specialist Agencies.