Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,420,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the August 15th total of 2,270,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 247,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.8 days.

Insider Activity at Deluxe

In other news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy purchased 2,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $19.08 per share, with a total value of $53,805.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 178,670 shares in the company, valued at $3,409,023.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Deluxe

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DLX. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Deluxe during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Deluxe in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Ariadne Wealth Management LP bought a new position in Deluxe in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Deluxe by 555.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Security National Bank purchased a new stake in Deluxe during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Deluxe Stock Performance

NYSE:DLX opened at $19.80 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.03. The stock has a market cap of $872.11 million, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.47. Deluxe has a twelve month low of $16.00 and a twelve month high of $24.87.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.29. Deluxe had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 20.90%. The firm had revenue of $537.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $537.90 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Deluxe will post 2.8 EPS for the current year.

Deluxe Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.06%. Deluxe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 155.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Deluxe from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th.

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.