Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $10.84 and last traded at $10.83, with a volume of 563889 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $10.65.

Pitney Bowes Trading Down 3.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 2.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.53.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.16. Pitney Bowes had a negative net margin of 7.71% and a negative return on equity of 20.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pitney Bowes Inc. will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pitney Bowes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. This is a positive change from Pitney Bowes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio is -17.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pitney Bowes

In related news, EVP Deborah Pfeiffer sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total value of $315,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 124,124 shares in the company, valued at $1,119,598.48. The trade was a 22.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kurt James Wolf sold 78,285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.66, for a total value of $834,518.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 606,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,463,040.74. This represents a 11.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,405,593 shares of company stock valued at $13,568,759 in the last three months. 14.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pitney Bowes

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hestia Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pitney Bowes in the 4th quarter worth about $114,326,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pitney Bowes by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,162,512 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $153,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,716 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 2,894.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,228,562 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,760,000 after buying an additional 1,187,531 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Pitney Bowes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,245,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Pitney Bowes by 103.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,269,207 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,189,000 after buying an additional 644,002 shares in the last quarter. 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.