Abel Hall LLC Buys Shares of 11,791 WPP PLC $WPP

Key Points

• Abel Hall LLC has acquired 11,791 shares of WPP PLC, valued at approximately $413,000, marking a new position for the fund in the business services provider.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in WPP, with notable increases from Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC (27.2%) and Invesco Ltd. (50.8%) during the first quarter.
• WPP has received various analyst ratings, with one firm rating it as a "Buy" and others issuing downgrades, leading to a consensus rating of "Reduce" from market analysts.

Abel Hall LLC acquired a new position in shares of WPP PLC (NYSE:WPP - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 11,791 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $413,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WPP. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of WPP by 27.2% during the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 6,720,858 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $255,124,000 after buying an additional 1,436,668 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of WPP by 50.8% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,448,296 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $92,937,000 after buying an additional 824,336 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WPP during the second quarter worth $1,560,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of WPP by 11.6% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 283,028 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $10,744,000 after buying an additional 29,388 shares during the period. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC lifted its stake in shares of WPP by 604.0% during the first quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 33,708 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,280,000 after buying an additional 28,920 shares during the period. 4.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WPP. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating on shares of WPP in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of WPP from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of WPP in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WPP from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of WPP in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WPP has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

WPP Stock Performance

Shares of WPP stock opened at $24.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.43. The company has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.95. WPP PLC has a fifty-two week low of $23.43 and a fifty-two week high of $57.37.

WPP Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.5033 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 1,060.0%. WPP's dividend payout ratio is 8.21%.

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.

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