Park Avenue Securities LLC Raises Position in Omnicom Group Inc. $OMC

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) by 127.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,826 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Omnicom Group were worth $2,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Omnicom Group by 15.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,863,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,384,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,298,652 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Omnicom Group by 30.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,107,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $660,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,316 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Omnicom Group by 73.6% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,652,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $542,376,000 after purchasing an additional 2,820,553 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Omnicom Group in the third quarter valued at $515,145,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Omnicom Group by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,514,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $324,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,197 shares in the last quarter. 91.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OMC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Omnicom Group from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down from $87.00) on shares of Omnicom Group in a research note on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Omnicom Group from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup increased their price target on Omnicom Group from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Omnicom Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Omnicom Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.86.

Omnicom Group Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Omnicom Group stock opened at $75.66 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.05. Omnicom Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.33 and a fifty-two week high of $87.17. The firm has a market cap of $23.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 154.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.58 billion. Omnicom Group had a positive return on equity of 25.65% and a negative net margin of 0.32%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.41 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Omnicom Group Inc. will post 8.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Omnicom Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Omnicom Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 653.06%.

Omnicom Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 18th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 38.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Omnicom Group Company Profile

Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE: OMC) is a global marketing and corporate communications holding company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1986 through the merger of the BBDO, DDB and Needham Harper agencies, Omnicom has built a portfolio of leading brands and networks serving clients across diverse industries.

The company’s primary business activities encompass advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations, and customer relationship management.