O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Raises Position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 0.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 97,522 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of H&R Block worth $4,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of H&R Block during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of H&R Block during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at H&R Block

In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.55, for a total value of $2,453,386.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 712,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,860,656.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on HRB. Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of H&R Block from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of H&R Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of HRB stock traded down $0.82 on Tuesday, hitting $56.44. 785,445 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,091,960. The firm has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.39. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.01 and a 52 week high of $57.69.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $4.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. H&R Block had a net margin of 17.87% and a negative return on equity of 224.81%. H&R Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.29%.

H&R Block Company 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.