Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) CEO Acquires $53,805.60 in Stock

Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) CEO Barry C. Mccarthy acquired 2,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $19.08 per share, for a total transaction of $53,805.60. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 178,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,409,023.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Deluxe Price Performance

Shares of DLX opened at $19.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $876.68 million, a PE ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.97. Deluxe Co. has a fifty-two week low of $16.00 and a fifty-two week high of $24.87.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.29. Deluxe had a return on equity of 20.90% and a net margin of 1.78%. The company had revenue of $537.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $537.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. Deluxe’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Deluxe Co. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deluxe Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.05%. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 155.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Deluxe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Institutional Trading of Deluxe

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DLX. Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new position in Deluxe during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,152,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Deluxe by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 584,592 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,037,000 after acquiring an additional 36,133 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Deluxe in the 1st quarter worth $995,000. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Deluxe by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,090,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,047,000 after acquiring an additional 48,067 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Deluxe during the 4th quarter valued at about $245,000. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Deluxe

Deluxe Corporation provides technology-enabled solutions to enterprises, small businesses, and financial institutions in the United States, Canada, and Australia. It operates through Merchant Services, B2B Payments, Data Solutions, and Print segments. The Merchant Services offers credit and debit card authorization and payment systems, as well as processing services primarily to small and medium-sized retail and service businesses.