Nuveen LLC Buys New Position in Deluxe Corporation $DLX

Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Deluxe Corporation (NYSE:DLX) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 334,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,281,000. Nuveen LLC owned 0.75% of Deluxe at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DLX. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in 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 during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Deluxe in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,565,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Deluxe in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,863,000. Arjuna Capital acquired a new stake in Deluxe in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,126,000. Finally, LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Deluxe in the 1st quarter valued at about $790,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Deluxe Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DLX opened at $19.8970 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.94. Deluxe Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $13.61 and a fifty-two week high of $24.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $892.98 million, a PE ratio of 15.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.09.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.17. Deluxe had a return on equity of 21.12% and a net margin of 2.75%.The business had revenue of $521.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $526.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Deluxe Corporation will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deluxe Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DLX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Deluxe in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. TD Securities reduced their price target on Deluxe from $33.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Deluxe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Deluxe presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.00.

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.