H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Short Interest Update

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,530,000 shares, an increase of 5.3% from the August 15th total of 9,050,000 shares. Currently, 6.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on HRB shares. StockNews.com cut H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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 reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $515,280.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,189,910.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other H&R Block news, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.17, for a total value of $5,165,309.03. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 90,095 shares in the company, valued at $5,871,491.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $515,280.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,189,910.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 160,902 shares of company stock valued at $9,970,442. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H&R Block

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRB. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of H&R Block by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 7,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter worth about $439,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the 4th quarter valued at about $126,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in H&R Block by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,469,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,463,000 after acquiring an additional 79,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in H&R Block by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 18,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 8,808 shares during the period. 90.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HRB traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $62.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,097,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,157,128. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.66. H&R Block has a 52 week low of $39.20 and a 52 week high of $68.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that H&R Block will post 5.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

H&R Block Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be 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 is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.32%.

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.