Pitney Bowes Inc. $PBI Shares Sold by UBS Group AG

Key Points

• UBS Group AG reduced its Pitney Bowes stake by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 87,992 shares and leaving it with 667,432 shares worth about $7.1 million.
• Insider activity was mixed but heavily skewed toward selling: Director Brent D. Rosenthal bought 4,000 shares, while CEO Kurt James Wolf sold 966,561 shares; insiders have sold 2.46 million shares over the past 90 days.
• Analysts have turned more positive on PBI, with Bank of America upgrading the stock to neutral and lifting its price target to $16.50, while the consensus rating now stands at Moderate Buy with a $15.18 target.

UBS Group AG cut its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI - Free Report) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 667,432 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 87,992 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG owned 0.41% of Pitney Bowes worth $7,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Solidarity Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pitney Bowes during the fourth quarter worth $6,236,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pitney Bowes in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,584 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 2,694 shares during the period. FORM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Pitney Bowes in the fourth quarter valued at $155,000. Finally, Ruffer LLP acquired a new stake in Pitney Bowes in the fourth quarter valued at $4,483,000. 67.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pitney Bowes

In other news, Director Brent D. Rosenthal purchased 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.22 per share, with a total value of $40,880.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $91,980. This represents a 80.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kurt James Wolf sold 966,561 shares of Pitney Bowes stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.58, for a total value of $14,092,459.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 452,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,599,316.24. This trade represents a 68.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,456,054 shares of company stock valued at $34,864,180 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PBI shares. Bank of America raised Pitney Bowes from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $9.50 to $16.50 in a report on Monday, May 11th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Pitney Bowes from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Pitney Bowes from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Pitney Bowes in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Pitney Bowes from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.18.

Pitney Bowes Stock Down 5.0%

NYSE:PBI opened at $15.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.64. Pitney Bowes Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.95 and a 52-week high of $16.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.10.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI - Get Free Report) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $471.83 million. Pitney Bowes had a negative return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 8.92%.The business's revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Pitney Bowes Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Pitney Bowes Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. Pitney Bowes's payout ratio is 38.83%.

Pitney Bowes 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.

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