H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Stake Trimmed by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC lowered its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 9.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,932,445 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,996,584 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned approximately 13.81% of H&R Block worth $1,203,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rockland Trust Co. grew its stake in H&R Block by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in H&R Block by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in H&R Block by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 24,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its stake in H&R Block by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in H&R Block by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 15,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,008,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 9,722 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total transaction of $613,166.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 893,169 shares in the company, valued at $56,332,168.83. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $515,280.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,189,910.34. This trade represents a 30.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on HRB. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th.

H&R Block Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE HRB opened at $59.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.89. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $42.28 and a 52 week high of $68.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($1.17) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.13) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $193.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.78 million. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.19% and a negative return on equity of 212.45%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.05) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, August 15th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.59%.

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.