Wedbush Securities Inc. Takes Position in Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI)

Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 119,248 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $863,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Pitney Bowes in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,873 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 889.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 8,319 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 7,478 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,283 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 3,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Pitney Bowes in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.88% of the company’s stock.

Pitney Bowes Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of PBI opened at $7.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of -7.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.16. Pitney Bowes Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.90 and a 52-week high of $11.01.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. On average, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Pitney Bowes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -21.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut Pitney Bowes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st.

Insider Transactions at Pitney Bowes

In other Pitney Bowes news, Director Kurt James Wolf sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.66, for a total value of $12,075,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 622,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,935. The trade was a 66.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Arthur Fairweather sold 130,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 176,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,907,650.35. The trade was a 42.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,974,484 shares of company stock valued at $19,815,631. Corporate insiders own 14.30% of the company’s stock.

Pitney Bowes Company Profile

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.