Invesco Ltd. Acquires 49,104 Shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX)

Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 766,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,104 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 1.73% of Deluxe worth $17,315,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DLX. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Deluxe by 57.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Deluxe by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,695,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 18,133 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Deluxe by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 115,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,247,000 after buying an additional 10,447 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Deluxe by 73.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 148,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,893,000 after buying an additional 62,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,028,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,041,000 after buying an additional 17,583 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DLX. StockNews.com cut shares of Deluxe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Sidoti raised shares of Deluxe to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Deluxe Trading Down 0.3 %

DLX opened at $14.54 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $650.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.41. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $13.70 and a twelve month high of $24.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.76.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Deluxe

In other Deluxe news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy bought 3,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.45 per share, for a total transaction of $64,582.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 272,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,488,398.95. This represents a 1.46 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Deluxe 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.