Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 202,973 H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 202,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,725,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of H&R Block by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,141,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in H&R Block during the fourth quarter worth about $2,080,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in H&R Block by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 39,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,109,000 after buying an additional 1,611 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in H&R Block by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,219,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,796,000 after buying an additional 282,633 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Coast Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HRB has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a report on Wednesday, February 5th.

H&R Block Stock Down 1.0 %

HRB opened at $52.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $53.44 and a 200-day moving average of $57.32. H&R Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.87 and a fifty-two week high of $68.45. The company has a market capitalization of $7.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.65.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.59) by ($0.14). H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 179.15% and a net margin of 14.71%. On average, equities analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.32%.

About H&R Block

H&R Block, Inc engages in the provision of tax return preparation solutions, financial products and small business solutions. The company was founded by Henry W. Bloch and Richard A. Bloch on January 25, 1955, and is headquartered in Kansas City, MO.