Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) by 38.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,796 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,525 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Deluxe were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Round Hill Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Deluxe by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Round Hill Asset Management now owns 50,058 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Deluxe by 93.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the period. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Deluxe by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 18,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Deluxe by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Deluxe by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy bought 3,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.45 per share, with a total value of $64,582.70. Following the purchase, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DLX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sidoti raised shares of Deluxe to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Deluxe from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

Deluxe Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of DLX opened at $15.64 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.65. Deluxe Co. has a 1-year low of $15.13 and a 1-year high of $24.87. The stock has a market cap of $695.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.46.

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%. Equities analysts forecast that Deluxe Co. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Deluxe Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.67%. Deluxe’s payout ratio is currently 101.69%.

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.