Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from an underperform rating to a neutral rating. Bank of America now has a $16.50 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $9.50. Pitney Bowes traded as high as $16.52 and last traded at $16.4350, with a volume of 368285 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $15.70.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on PBI. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on shares of Pitney Bowes from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $15.20 price target on shares of Pitney Bowes in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Pitney Bowes from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research raised shares of Pitney Bowes from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Pitney Bowes from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.18.

Insider Activity at Pitney Bowes

In related news, Director Brent D. Rosenthal acquired 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.22 per share, for a total transaction of $40,880.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,000 shares in the company, valued at $91,980. The trade was a 80.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kurt James Wolf sold 966,561 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.58, for a total transaction of $14,092,459.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 452,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,599,316.24. This represents a 68.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,456,054 shares of company stock worth $34,864,180. Company insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pitney Bowes

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PBI. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Pitney Bowes by 246.7% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,197,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,364,000 after acquiring an additional 2,986,689 shares during the last quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC lifted its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 89.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 3,364,466 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,389,000 after buying an additional 1,588,579 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Pitney Bowes during the 1st quarter worth approximately $16,403,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,630,801 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,808,000 after buying an additional 988,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 2,724.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 836,071 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,540,000 after buying an additional 806,471 shares in the last quarter. 67.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pitney Bowes Trading Up 2.9%

The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.87.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. The company had revenue of $477.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Pitney Bowes Inc. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pitney Bowes Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio is 34.95%.

Pitney Bowes Company Profile

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.