Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

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

Deluxe Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Deluxe stock opened at $24.16 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.00. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.47. 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 1 year low of $16.00 and a 1 year high of $24.66.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Deluxe

In other Deluxe news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy purchased 2,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.63 per share, with a total value of $52,777.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,803,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 2,675 shares of company stock valued at $58,063. 4.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Deluxe by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,167,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $106,406,000 after purchasing an additional 171,998 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Deluxe by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,090,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,047,000 after purchasing an additional 48,067 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Deluxe by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,750,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $37,548,000 after purchasing an additional 130,357 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Deluxe by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 813,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,276,000 after purchasing an additional 27,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Deluxe by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 584,592 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,037,000 after purchasing an additional 36,133 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.