Cooke & Bieler LP Has $204.94 Million Holdings in Omnicom Group Inc. $OMC

Key Points

• Cooke & Bieler LP increased its Omnicom stake by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 268,141 more shares and lifting its total holding to 2.54 million shares worth about $204.9 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with 91.97% of Omnicom shares held by institutions. Several large investors, including Vanguard, State Street, and JPMorgan, also boosted their positions.
• Omnicom recently reported solid results and shareholder returns, beating quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, while also authorizing a $5 billion share buyback and maintaining a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share.

Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in shares of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC - Free Report) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,538,012 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 268,141 shares during the quarter. Omnicom Group makes up about 2.1% of Cooke & Bieler LP's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 1.32% of Omnicom Group worth $204,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Omnicom Group by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,934,118 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,143,930,000 after buying an additional 15,220,444 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Omnicom Group by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,863,327 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,384,980,000 after purchasing an additional 2,298,652 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Omnicom Group by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,107,021 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $660,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,316 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Omnicom Group by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,870,437 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $635,538,000 after purchasing an additional 433,461 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Omnicom Group by 73.6% during the 3rd 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. 91.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Omnicom Group from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Omnicom Group from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Argus raised shares of Omnicom Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Omnicom Group from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Omnicom Group from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.71.

Omnicom Group Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Omnicom Group stock opened at $74.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.83 and a 200 day moving average of $76.49. The firm has a market cap of $21.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 192.19, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.66. Omnicom Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.33 and a 1 year high of $87.17.

Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.06. Omnicom Group had a net margin of 0.32% and a return on equity of 24.48%. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.70 EPS. Omnicom Group's quarterly revenue was up 69.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Omnicom Group Inc. will post 10.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Omnicom Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 18th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 38.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Omnicom Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. Omnicom Group's dividend payout ratio is 820.51%.

Omnicom Group 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.

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