Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) Short Interest Update

Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,800,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the February 29th total of 2,610,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 216,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 13.0 days.

Insider Activity at Deluxe

In related news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy purchased 2,666 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.25 per share, with a total value of $51,320.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 173,410 shares in the company, valued at $3,338,142.50. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Deluxe by 20.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 35,897 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $679,000 after acquiring an additional 6,102 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Deluxe in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,655,000. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in Deluxe by 63.2% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 4,895 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Deluxe by 37.1% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 23,935 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 6,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Deluxe by 4.4% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 75,486 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 3,196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company's stock.

Deluxe Price Performance

NYSE DLX traded down $0.21 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $19.97. 191,650 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 219,871. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.49. The company has a market cap of $875.68 million, a PE ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.48. Deluxe has a fifty-two week low of $13.61 and a fifty-two week high of $21.97. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $19.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.31.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $537.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $537.80 million. Deluxe had a return on equity of 21.53% and a net margin of 1.20%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Deluxe will post 2.78 EPS for the current year.

Deluxe Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Deluxe's payout ratio is 203.39%.

About Deluxe

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.