Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Position in H&R Block, Inc. $HRB

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,313,823 shares of the company’s stock after selling 345,952 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of H&R Block worth $580,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 60.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,593,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,961,000 after purchasing an additional 976,069 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,886,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,542,000 after purchasing an additional 652,690 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 335.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 749,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,892,000 after purchasing an additional 577,200 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,990,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,653,000 after purchasing an additional 391,711 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,750,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,088,000 after purchasing an additional 269,581 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HRB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Monday, April 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on H&R Block from $48.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised H&R Block from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

H&R Block Stock Down 0.5%

HRB stock opened at $31.10 on Tuesday. H&R Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.16 and a twelve month high of $64.62. The firm has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 7.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.18 and a 200 day moving average of $38.76.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported ($1.84) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.96) by $0.12. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 176.02% and a net margin of 16.19%.The company had revenue of $198.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $187.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.73) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.80%.

H&R Block Profile

H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) is a leading provider of tax preparation services and software solutions, serving individual and small-business clients through a combination of retail offices, online platforms and mobile applications. The company offers assisted tax preparation at its network of retail offices, where clients work with trained tax professionals, as well as do-it-yourself (DIY) software and online filing services designed to guide users through the complexities of federal and state tax returns.

Founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W.