Caxton Associates LP Reduces Stake in Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI)

Caxton Associates LP reduced its position in Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI - Free Report) by 35.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 138,429 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 75,676 shares during the quarter. Caxton Associates LP owned about 0.08% of Pitney Bowes worth $1,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hestia Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pitney Bowes in the fourth quarter worth about $114,326,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Pitney Bowes by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 768,373 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,563,000 after purchasing an additional 30,658 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 586,249 shares during the last quarter. American Assets Inc. grew its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. American Assets Inc. now owns 130,000 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $941,000 after purchasing an additional 58,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 182.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 967,384 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,897,000 after purchasing an additional 624,878 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.88% of the company's stock.

Pitney Bowes Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PBI traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $9.28. 2,040,084 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,087,475. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.29, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.41. Pitney Bowes Inc. has a twelve month low of $4.62 and a twelve month high of $11.01.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $493.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $498.99 million. Pitney Bowes had a negative return on equity of 20.95% and a negative net margin of 7.71%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.01) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Pitney Bowes Inc. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Pitney Bowes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. This is an increase from Pitney Bowes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Pitney Bowes's payout ratio is -30.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PBI shares. StockNews.com raised Pitney Bowes from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sidoti raised shares of Pitney Bowes to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th.

Insider Transactions at Pitney Bowes

In other Pitney Bowes news, EVP James Arthur Fairweather sold 130,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 176,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,907,650.35. This represents a 42.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kurt James Wolf sold 78,285 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.66, for a total transaction of $834,518.10. Following the sale, the director now owns 606,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,463,040.74. This trade represents a 11.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,941,529 shares of company stock worth $19,517,109. 9.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.