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

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

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

Pitney Bowes Price Performance

PBI opened at $9.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.44, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.47. Pitney Bowes has a 1-year low of $4.62 and a 1-year high of $11.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.48.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last issued 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. Pitney Bowes had a negative net margin of 7.71% and a negative return on equity of 20.95%. The firm had revenue of $493.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $498.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.01) earnings per share. Pitney Bowes’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Pitney Bowes will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Pitney Bowes Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is a positive change from Pitney Bowes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio is currently -30.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pitney Bowes news, Director Kurt James Wolf sold 481,199 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total transaction of $5,182,513.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 584,636 shares in the company, valued at $6,296,529.72. This trade represents a 45.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James Arthur Fairweather sold 130,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 176,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,907,650.35. This trade represents a 42.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 613,244 shares of company stock worth $6,607,591. 9.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pitney Bowes

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Pitney Bowes during the first quarter valued at $36,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Pitney Bowes during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Pitney Bowes by 130.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,078 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 2,873 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV bought a new position in Pitney Bowes during the first quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in Pitney Bowes during the first quarter valued at $96,000. Institutional investors own 67.88% of the company’s stock.

About Pitney Bowes

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.