Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in shares of H & R Block Inc (NYSE:HRB) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 301,773 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,836 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.15% of H & R Block worth $7,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in H & R Block in the second quarter worth $49,107,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in H & R Block by 206.8% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,235,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,509,000 after buying an additional 1,506,977 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its position in H & R Block by 73.5% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 2,583,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,697,000 after buying an additional 1,094,227 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its position in H & R Block by 49.7% in the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 3,129,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,685,000 after buying an additional 1,038,515 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. increased its position in H & R Block by 86.8% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. now owns 2,144,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,845,000 after buying an additional 996,764 shares during the period.
A number of brokerages have recently commented on HRB. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on H & R Block in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Barrington Research lowered their price target on H & R Block from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on H & R Block from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. ValuEngine raised H & R Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TheStreet lowered H & R Block from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. H & R Block currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.20.
Shares of NYSE:HRB traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,491,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,016,420. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.14, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. H & R Block Inc has a 1-year low of $22.96 and a 1-year high of $29.62. The firm has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.10.
H & R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported ($0.72) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($0.75) by $0.03. H & R Block had a return on equity of 305.29% and a net margin of 13.71%. The business had revenue of $150.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.72) EPS. H & R Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that H & R Block Inc will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. H & R Block’s payout ratio is presently 48.37%.
H & R Block Company Profile
H&R Block, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides assisted income tax return preparation, digital do-it-yourself (DIY) tax solutions, and other services and products related to income tax return preparation to the general public primarily in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The company offers assisted income tax return preparation and related services through a system of retail offices operated directly by the company or by franchisees.
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