Gabelli Funds LLC Acquires 22,820 Shares of Omnicom Group Inc. $OMC

Key Points

• Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its Omnicom Group stake by 154.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 22,820 more shares and bringing its total holding to 37,568 shares worth about $3.03 million.
• Institutional interest in OMC remains high, with several major firms increasing positions and 91.97% of the stock now owned by institutional investors.
• Omnicom reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting $1.90 EPS on $6.24 billion in revenue, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share plus a $5 billion share repurchase program.

Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC - Free Report) by 154.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,568 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,820 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC's holdings in Omnicom Group were worth $3,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in OMC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Omnicom Group by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,934,118 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,143,930,000 after purchasing an additional 15,220,444 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Omnicom Group during the third quarter worth approximately $515,145,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Omnicom Group by 73.6% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,652,469 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $542,376,000 after purchasing an additional 2,820,553 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Omnicom Group by 15.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,863,327 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,384,980,000 after purchasing an additional 2,298,652 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings 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 during the period. 91.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on OMC shares. Argus raised shares of Omnicom Group to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Omnicom Group in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Omnicom Group from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays lifted 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 note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Omnicom Group from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.71.

Omnicom Group Stock Performance

NYSE OMC opened at $73.79 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $75.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.48. The stock has a market cap of $21.03 billion, a PE ratio of 189.22, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.66. Omnicom Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.33 and a fifty-two week high of $87.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.85 billion. Omnicom Group had a net margin of 0.32% and a return on equity of 24.48%. The company's revenue was up 69.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Omnicom Group Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Omnicom Group Announces Dividend

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

Omnicom Group announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 38.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Omnicom Group

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.