Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI)

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 11,740 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 306% compared to the average volume of 2,889 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pitney Bowes

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,313,865 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $192,890,000 after buying an additional 151,353 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes by 38.9% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,918,742 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,415,000 after purchasing an additional 817,953 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 103.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,269,207 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,189,000 after buying an additional 644,002 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Pitney Bowes during the first quarter worth $11,032,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Pitney Bowes by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 932,635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,752,000 after acquiring an additional 280,402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.88% of the company’s stock.

Pitney Bowes Stock Performance

Shares of PBI traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $12.50. The company had a trading volume of 2,891,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,152,100. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.27. Pitney Bowes has a 1-year low of $5.58 and a 1-year high of $12.55.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $493.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.99 million. Pitney Bowes had a negative return on equity of 31.61% and a negative net margin of 7.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.01) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pitney Bowes will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pitney Bowes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.07 dividend. This is a boost from Pitney Bowes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio is -30.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PBI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sidoti raised Pitney Bowes to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pitney Bowes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th.

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.