Insider Buying: Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) CEO Purchases 3,926 Shares of Stock

Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) CEO Barry C. Mccarthy acquired 3,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.45 per share, for a total transaction of $64,582.70. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 272,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,398.95. This trade represents a 1.46 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Deluxe Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of DLX opened at $15.64 on Thursday. Deluxe Co. has a 52-week low of $15.13 and a 52-week high of $24.87. The business’s fifty day moving average is $19.99 and its 200-day moving average is $20.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $695.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.46.

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

Deluxe Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Deluxe

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DLX. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Deluxe during the 4th quarter valued at $220,326,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,361,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,351,000 after acquiring an additional 177,534 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Deluxe during the 4th quarter valued at $3,210,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 596,977 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,486,000 after acquiring an additional 118,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Deluxe during the 4th quarter valued at $2,565,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on DLX shares. Sidoti upgraded Deluxe to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Deluxe from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

Deluxe Company Profile

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.