Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) Upgraded at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America upgraded Pitney Bowes from underperform to neutral and raised its price target to $16.50 from $9.50, implying about 5.2% upside from the prior close.
• The stock has seen mixed analyst sentiment, with several recent upgrades and a consensus rating of Moderate Buy; the average price target across analysts is $15.18.
• Pitney Bowes recently reported EPS of $0.47, matching estimates, while revenue came in above expectations at $477.4 million, though sales were still down 3.2% year over year.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Bank of America from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $16.50 price target on the technology company's stock, up from their prior price target of $9.50. Bank of America's price objective points to a potential upside of 5.19% from the company's previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pitney Bowes from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Pitney Bowes from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Pitney Bowes in a research note on Friday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $15.20 target price on Pitney Bowes in a research note on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Pitney Bowes from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $15.18.

Pitney Bowes Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE PBI opened at $15.69 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.64. Pitney Bowes has a 12 month low of $8.95 and a 12 month high of $15.95.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm's revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pitney Bowes will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Brent D. Rosenthal acquired 4,000 shares of Pitney Bowes stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.22 per share, with a total value of $40,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $91,980. This represents a 80.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kurt James Wolf sold 966,561 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 68.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,456,054 shares of company stock valued at $34,864,180 over the last ninety days. 6.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.

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