H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) Price Target Raised to $44.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $39.00 to $44.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sell” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target points to a potential downside of 32.78% from the company’s current price.

HRB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of H&R Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th.

H&R Block Stock Up 13.9 %

Shares of HRB stock traded up $7.97 on Friday, hitting $65.46. The stock had a trading volume of 5,395,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,097,632. The company has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $54.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.59. H&R Block has a one year low of $38.40 and a one year high of $68.45.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.15. H&R Block had a net margin of 17.87% and a negative return on equity of 224.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that H&R Block will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at H&R Block

In related news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.55, for a total transaction of $2,453,386.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 712,386 shares in the company, valued at $38,860,656.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H&R Block

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in H&R Block by 11.8% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,295,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,081,000 after acquiring an additional 558,076 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in H&R Block by 30.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,270,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,614,000 after acquiring an additional 758,827 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in H&R Block by 52.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,738,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,492,000 after acquiring an additional 939,270 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in H&R Block by 1.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,484,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,726,000 after acquiring an additional 23,792 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in H&R Block by 39.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,131,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,418,000 after acquiring an additional 606,250 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

About H&R Block

H&R Block, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides assisted income tax return preparation and do-it-yourself (DIY) tax return preparation services and products to the general public primarily in the United States, Canada, and Australia. It offers assisted income tax return preparation and related services through a system of retail offices operated directly by the company or its franchisees.