Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during 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 Stock Up 0.8 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.00 and a 200 day moving average of $7.45. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 2.01.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.16. Pitney Bowes had a negative return on equity of 20.95% and a negative net margin of 7.71%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Pitney Bowes Inc. will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Pitney Bowes Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Pitney Bowes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio is presently -17.86%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kurt James Wolf sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.66, for a total value of $12,075,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 622,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,935. This trade represents a 66.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah Pfeiffer sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,119,598.48. The trade was a 22.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,405,593 shares of company stock valued at $13,568,759 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 14.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pitney Bowes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,162,512 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $153,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,716 shares during the last quarter. Hestia Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pitney Bowes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $114,326,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,628,672 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,878,000 after acquiring an additional 51,093 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes by 47.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,814,811 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,139,000 after acquiring an additional 586,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes by 103.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,269,207 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,189,000 after acquiring an additional 644,002 shares during the last quarter. 67.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.