Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 16,371 Shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its position in shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 190,673 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16,371 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.43% of Deluxe worth $4,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Deluxe by 93.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Deluxe by 63.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management raised its stake in Deluxe by 231.9% during the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 5,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 3,785 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Deluxe by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,084 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Deluxe during the fourth quarter worth about $181,000. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy bought 3,926 shares of Deluxe stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.45 per share, for a total transaction of $64,582.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 272,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,488,398.95. The trade was a 1.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Sidoti raised Deluxe to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Deluxe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on Deluxe from $33.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st.

Deluxe Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE DLX opened at $13.63 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The company has a market cap of $609.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.49. Deluxe Co. has a 12 month low of $13.61 and a 12 month high of $24.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.03.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. Deluxe had a return on equity of 21.33% and a net margin of 2.49%. The company had revenue of $536.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $525.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Deluxe Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deluxe Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

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.