Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) Position Reduced by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 191,255 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16,811 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Deluxe were worth $4,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DLX. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Deluxe by 378.0% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 25,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Deluxe by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 76,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,492,000 after acquiring an additional 4,277 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Deluxe by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 99,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 4,517 shares during the last quarter. Arjuna Capital bought a new position in Deluxe during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,490,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Deluxe by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 220,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,000 after acquiring an additional 11,122 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DLX. Sidoti raised shares of Deluxe to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Deluxe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th.

Deluxe Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:DLX opened at $16.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $731.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.52. Deluxe Co. has a 1-year low of $16.01 and a 1-year high of $24.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $21.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($0.05). Deluxe had a return on equity of 21.33% and a net margin of 2.49%. Equities analysts anticipate that Deluxe Co. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Deluxe Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy acquired 2,290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.57 per share, with a total value of $53,975.30. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,265,227.20. The trade was a 1.28 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.23% of the company’s stock.

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.