Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) Plans $0.30 Quarterly Dividend

Deluxe Co. (NYSE:DLX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share by the business services provider on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th.

Deluxe has a payout ratio of 35.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Deluxe to earn $3.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.0%.

Deluxe Price Performance

Deluxe stock traded up $1.68 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $21.57. 580,837 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 211,904. The company has a market capitalization of $945.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.42. Deluxe has a 1 year low of $13.61 and a 1 year high of $21.97.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Northcoast Research assumed coverage on Deluxe in a report on Friday, April 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company.

Insider Activity at Deluxe

In other Deluxe news, CEO Barry C. Mccarthy acquired 2,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.25 per share, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 4.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.