Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Pitney Bowes Call Options (NYSE:PBI)

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 4,640 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 153% compared to the typical volume of 1,831 call options.

Institutional Trading of Pitney Bowes

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in shares of Pitney Bowes in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. William Howard & Co Financial Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Pitney Bowes during the first quarter valued at $52,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Pitney Bowes in the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Pitney Bowes during the 1st quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in Pitney Bowes by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 2,753 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.88% of the company’s stock.

Pitney Bowes Stock Up 10.6 %

Pitney Bowes stock traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $5.62. 1,670,257 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,532,369. Pitney Bowes has a 12-month low of $2.80 and a 12-month high of $5.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $4.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.44. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.57, a PEG ratio of 16.93 and a beta of 1.99.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $797.00 million. Pitney Bowes had a negative net margin of 11.67% and a negative return on equity of 3.09%. The business’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.01) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pitney Bowes will post 0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Pitney Bowes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. Pitney Bowes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -9.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Pitney Bowes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd.

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.