State of Alaska Department of Revenue Increases Stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,238 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $2,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in H&R Block by 42.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,438,000 after buying an additional 14,760 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of H&R Block by 270.7% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 16,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 11,917 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of H&R Block by 576.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 580,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,496,000 after purchasing an additional 494,457 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of H&R Block by 24.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 94,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,629,000 after purchasing an additional 18,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the first quarter worth $10,581,000. 90.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HRB. StockNews.com cut shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Monday.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRB opened at $59.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.30. H&R Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.20 and a fifty-two week high of $68.45. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.66.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.15. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.49% and a negative return on equity of 220.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. H&R Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. This is a positive change from H&R Block’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.55%.

H&R Block announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, August 15th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at H&R Block

In other H&R Block news, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 9,846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $639,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,028 shares in the company, valued at $1,626,820. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other H&R Block news, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 9,846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $639,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,028 shares in the company, valued at $1,626,820. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 9,722 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total transaction of $613,166.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 893,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,332,168.83. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 115,927 shares of company stock worth $7,517,056 over the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

H&R Block Profile

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.