Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.4250.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PBI shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Pitney Bowes from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pitney Bowes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Citizens Jmp upped their price target on shares of Pitney Bowes from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $15.20 price objective on Pitney Bowes in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised Pitney Bowes from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $9.50 to $16.50 in a report on Monday, May 11th.

Pitney Bowes Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE PBI opened at $17.49 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.21. The company has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.63. Pitney Bowes has a 12-month low of $8.95 and a 12-month high of $17.77.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. The business had revenue of $477.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $471.83 million. Pitney Bowes had a net margin of 8.92% and a negative return on equity of 33.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Pitney Bowes will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Pitney Bowes Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Pitney Bowes’s payout ratio is currently 38.83%.

Insider Activity

In other Pitney Bowes news, CEO Kurt James Wolf sold 322,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.40, for a total transaction of $5,617,224.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 264,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,609,642.80. The trade was a 54.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah Pfeiffer sold 18,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total value of $301,125.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 97,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,571,117.68. This represents a 16.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 3,030,097 shares of company stock valued at $46,661,100 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pitney Bowes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,366,188 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $69,455,000 after purchasing an additional 188,886 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 246.7% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,197,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,364,000 after purchasing an additional 2,986,689 shares during the last quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC increased its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 3,364,466 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588,579 shares during the last quarter. Permit Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Permit Capital LLC now owns 3,250,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,352,000 after acquiring an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Management Corp VA raised its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 2,930,328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,974,000 after acquiring an additional 592,568 shares during the period. 67.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Pitney Bowes

Pitney Bowes Inc (NYSE: PBI) is an American technology company that specializes in shipping, mailing, and e-commerce solutions. Founded in 1920 by Walter Bowes and Arthur Pitney, the company pioneered postage meter technology and has since evolved to offer a broad portfolio of hardware, software, and services designed to streamline physical and digital communications. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, Pitney Bowes leverages a century of expertise to serve enterprises, small businesses, and government agencies around the globe.

The company’s core offerings span mailing and shipping equipment, including postage meters, folder inserters, and address verification systems, alongside integrated software platforms for customer information management, data analytics, and location intelligence.