Graham Capital Management L.P. Invests $427,000 in Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX)

Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 18,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $427,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DLX. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deluxe during the fourth quarter worth $220,326,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Deluxe by 8.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Deluxe in the fourth quarter valued at $3,210,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Deluxe by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 596,977 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,486,000 after acquiring an additional 118,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Deluxe by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 408,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,218,000 after acquiring an additional 103,989 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on DLX. StockNews.com cut shares of Deluxe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Sidoti raised shares of Deluxe to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, TD Securities cut their price target on shares of Deluxe from $33.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Deluxe Stock Down 0.2%

DLX stock opened at $15.96 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. Deluxe Co. has a 1-year low of $13.70 and a 1-year high of $24.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.22. The firm has a market cap of $714.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.49.

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

Deluxe Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.52%. Deluxe’s payout ratio is 96.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Deluxe

In other news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy purchased 3,926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.45 per share, for a total transaction of $64,582.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.