Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) Downgraded to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Separately, Sidoti raised shares of Pitney Bowes to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th.

Pitney Bowes Price Performance

Shares of Pitney Bowes stock opened at $9.55 on Thursday. Pitney Bowes has a fifty-two week low of $4.62 and a fifty-two week high of $11.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $8.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.46.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $493.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $498.99 million. Pitney Bowes had a negative net margin of 7.71% and a negative return on equity of 20.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.01) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Pitney Bowes will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Pitney Bowes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is an increase from Pitney Bowes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio is -30.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kurt James Wolf sold 481,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total transaction of $5,182,513.23. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 584,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,296,529.72. This represents a 45.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP James Arthur Fairweather sold 130,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.83, for a total transaction of $1,407,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 176,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,907,650.35. The trade was a 42.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 613,244 shares of company stock worth $6,607,591 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 9.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pitney Bowes

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Pitney Bowes in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Pitney Bowes during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 130.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,078 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 2,873 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in Pitney Bowes during the first quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Pitney Bowes in the first quarter worth approximately $98,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.88% of the company’s stock.

Pitney Bowes Company Profile

Pitney Bowes Inc, a shipping and mailing company, provides technology, logistics, and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, large enterprises, retailers, and government clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through Global Ecommerce, Presort Services, and SendTech Solutions segments.