Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Lowers Stock Holdings in Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its holdings in shares of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) by 17.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,664 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,382 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Pitney Bowes were worth $48,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PBI. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Pitney Bowes by 298.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 277,469 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 207,838 shares in the last quarter. Hestia Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Pitney Bowes during the fourth quarter worth approximately $114,326,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Pitney Bowes by 4.2% during the fourth 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. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Pitney Bowes during the fourth quarter worth approximately $498,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pitney Bowes by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 214,181 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,551,000 after purchasing an additional 18,583 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.88% of the company’s stock.

Pitney Bowes Price Performance

Shares of Pitney Bowes stock opened at $10.52 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.73. Pitney Bowes Inc. has a 12 month low of $4.62 and a 12 month high of $11.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.39, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.61.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.05. Pitney Bowes had a negative return on equity of 20.95% and a negative net margin of 7.71%. The business had revenue of $493.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.01) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pitney Bowes Inc. will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pitney Bowes Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This is a boost from Pitney Bowes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -30.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PBI. Wall Street Zen cut Pitney Bowes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Sidoti raised Pitney Bowes to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th.

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.