Alliancebernstein L.P. Trims Position in Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI)

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its holdings in Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI - Free Report) by 39.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 181,483 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 120,347 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.10% of Pitney Bowes worth $1,314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PBI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Pitney Bowes during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Pitney Bowes during the 4th quarter worth about $1,603,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Pitney Bowes in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,396,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its stake in shares of Pitney Bowes by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 74,044 shares of the technology company's stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 10,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Pitney Bowes during the fourth quarter worth $190,000. 67.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Pitney Bowes from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st.

Pitney Bowes Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PBI traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $8.33. The stock had a trading volume of 285,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,075,049. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $9.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of -7.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.89. Pitney Bowes Inc. has a one year low of $4.07 and a one year high of $11.01.

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.16. Pitney Bowes had a negative net margin of 7.71% and a negative return on equity of 20.95%. On average, research analysts expect that Pitney Bowes Inc. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Pitney Bowes Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. This is a positive change from Pitney Bowes's previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Pitney Bowes's payout ratio is currently -21.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP James Arthur Fairweather sold 130,000 shares of Pitney Bowes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.83, for a total transaction of $1,407,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 176,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,907,650.35. The trade was a 42.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kurt James Wolf sold 481,199 shares of Pitney Bowes stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.77, for a total value of $5,182,513.23. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 584,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,296,529.72. This represents a 45.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,974,484 shares of company stock valued at $19,815,631 over the last three months. 9.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.