Seven Eight Capital LP Sells 15,660 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Seven Eight Capital LP cut its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 42.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,510 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,660 shares during the quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $1,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in H&R Block by 42.3% in the 1st 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% during 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 576.5% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in H&R Block by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 156,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares during the period. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates acquired a new position in H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at $1,096,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRB has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HRB opened at $63.68 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.66. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.20 and a fifty-two week high of $68.45.

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

H&R Block Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Investors 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 of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.32%.

H&R Block declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, August 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at H&R Block

In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.55, for a total transaction of $2,453,386.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 712,386 shares in the company, valued at $38,860,656.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.55, for a total transaction of $2,453,386.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 712,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,860,656.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $515,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,474 shares in the company, valued at $1,189,910.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 160,902 shares of company stock valued at $9,970,442 over the last three months. 1.20% 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.