H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Shares Acquired by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 52.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,738,190 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 939,270 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned 1.96% of H&R Block worth $148,492,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HRB. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in H&R Block by 42.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,438,000 after purchasing an additional 14,760 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in H&R Block by 270.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 16,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 11,917 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake 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 buying an additional 494,457 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 156,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,096,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

H&R Block Stock Performance

Shares of HRB stock opened at $64.44 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 market cap of $8.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.51. H&R Block, Inc. has a one year low of $39.20 and a one year high of $68.45.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.22 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 15th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

H&R Block Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. This is a boost from H&R Block’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at H&R Block

In other news, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.17, for a total transaction of $5,165,309.03. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 90,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,871,491.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.17, for a total value of $5,165,309.03. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.55, for a total value of $2,453,386.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 712,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,860,656.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 160,902 shares of company stock valued at $9,970,442 in the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HRB shares. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com downgraded H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th.

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.