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

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on shares of Deluxe in a research note on Friday, April 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Deluxe from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th.

Deluxe Price Performance

DLX stock traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $22.13. The stock had a trading volume of 260,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 224,137. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53. Deluxe has a 52 week low of $16.00 and a 52 week high of $24.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $974.83 million, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.76.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Deluxe had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 21.33%. The company had revenue of $535.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $527.45 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Deluxe will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Deluxe news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy purchased 2,440 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.63 per share, for a total transaction of $52,777.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 175,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,803,635.50. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have acquired a total of 2,675 shares of company stock worth $58,063 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Deluxe

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DLX. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 555.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Deluxe during the first quarter valued at about $46,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Deluxe by 159.3% during the fourth quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 3,106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,908 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Deluxe during the first quarter valued at about $111,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management grew its position in Deluxe by 10.7% during the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 5,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

About Deluxe

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.