Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

DLX has been the topic of several other research reports. Barrington Research assumed coverage on Deluxe in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Deluxe from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Deluxe currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.00.

Deluxe Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DLX opened at $26.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.29. Deluxe has a 52 week low of $18.56 and a 52 week high of $32.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $23.46 and a 200 day moving average of $25.34.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The business services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $553.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $532.67 million. Deluxe had a return on equity of 23.02% and a net margin of 3.90%. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Deluxe will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Deluxe Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Deluxe

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Deluxe during the 2nd quarter worth about $14,739,000. Towle & Co. purchased a new stake in Deluxe during the 1st quarter valued at about $7,963,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 189.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 367,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,115,000 after purchasing an additional 240,359 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 79.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 442,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,175,000 after purchasing an additional 195,749 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 23.4% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 588,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,519,000 after purchasing an additional 111,510 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

About Deluxe

Deluxe Corporation is a provider of payments, marketing and business technology solutions serving small businesses, financial institutions and consumers. The company’s offerings include checks and related forms, business supplies, promotional products, website and digital marketing services, customer relationship management tools, data-driven marketing solutions and payment processing services.

Deluxe also provides receivables management, fraud prevention and other financial technology services designed to help businesses and financial institutions manage transactions and customer relationships.