Barry C. Mccarthy Acquires 3,926 Shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) Stock

Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) CEO Barry C. Mccarthy acquired 3,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.45 per share, with a total value of $64,582.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 272,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,398.95. This represents a 1.46 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Deluxe Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DLX opened at $15.85 on Wednesday. Deluxe Co. has a twelve month low of $15.13 and a twelve month high of $24.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.68. The company has a market capitalization of $704.10 million, a PE ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($0.05). Deluxe had a return on equity of 21.33% and a net margin of 2.49%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Deluxe Co. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Deluxe Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.57%. Deluxe’s payout ratio is presently 101.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Deluxe

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Deluxe in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $220,326,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Deluxe by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,260,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $118,836,000 after purchasing an additional 64,060 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Deluxe by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,361,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,351,000 after purchasing an additional 177,534 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Deluxe by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,695,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 18,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Deluxe by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,280,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,921,000 after purchasing an additional 31,288 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DLX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sidoti raised Deluxe to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised Deluxe from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th.

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.