StockNews.com Upgrades Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) to Strong-Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded Deluxe to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Deluxe Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DLX opened at $16.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $726.89 million, a PE ratio of 13.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.71. Deluxe has a 12 month low of $15.13 and a 12 month high of $24.87.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Deluxe Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued 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 7.33%. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.69%.

Institutional Trading of Deluxe

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DLX. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Deluxe in the fourth quarter valued at $220,326,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,361,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,351,000 after purchasing an additional 177,534 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Deluxe in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,210,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew 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 worth $13,486,000 after purchasing an additional 118,300 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Deluxe during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,565,000. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.