Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Stock Position in Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) by 56.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,551 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,250 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Omnicom Group were worth $5,844,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of OMC. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Omnicom Group by 98.3% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,032,265 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $225,842,000 after buying an additional 1,503,249 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Omnicom Group by 21.7% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,727,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,726,000 after purchasing an additional 664,800 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Omnicom Group by 8.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,745,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,437,000 after purchasing an additional 374,874 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Omnicom Group by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,590,980 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $192,976,000 after purchasing an additional 301,927 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Omnicom Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,936,000. 91.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on OMC. BNP Paribas raised shares of Omnicom Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Omnicom Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised Omnicom Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Omnicom Group from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Omnicom Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $91.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Omnicom Group news, Director Linda Johnson Rice sold 507 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $43,936.62. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $845,194.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Omnicom Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Omnicom Group stock opened at $92.75 on Friday. Omnicom Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.20 and a 12 month high of $99.23. The company has a market capitalization of $18.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4 billion. Omnicom Group had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 38.23%. Omnicom Group’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Omnicom Group Inc. will post 7.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Omnicom Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 8th. Omnicom Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.84%.

About Omnicom Group

Omnicom Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers advertising, marketing, and corporate communications services. It provides a range of services in the areas of advertising and media, precision marketing, commerce and branding, experiential, execution and support, public relations, and healthcare.