Stifel Financial Corp Makes New $392,000 Investment in Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX)

Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 17,354 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $392,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DLX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,260,552 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $118,836,000 after purchasing an additional 64,060 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 73.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 148,447 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 62,715 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 766,490 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $17,315,000 after purchasing an additional 49,104 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Deluxe by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 214,690 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,850,000 after purchasing an additional 6,303 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in shares of Deluxe during the fourth quarter worth $1,017,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Deluxe

In other Deluxe news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy acquired 3,926 shares of Deluxe stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.45 per share, for a total transaction of $64,582.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 272,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,398.95. This trade represents a 1.46% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Deluxe Stock Performance

Shares of DLX stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $15.96. The stock had a trading volume of 404,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 291,244. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Deluxe Co. has a twelve month low of $13.70 and a twelve month high of $24.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $714.05 million, a PE ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.49.

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $536.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $525.43 million. Deluxe had a net margin of 2.49% and a return on equity of 21.33%. Deluxe's quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Deluxe Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Deluxe Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.52%. Deluxe's payout ratio is 96.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sidoti raised shares of Deluxe to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Deluxe from $33.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Deluxe from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th.

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.