H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Shares Bought by Blue Whale Capital LLP

Blue Whale Capital LLP grew its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 742,500 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 92,500 shares during the period. H&R Block accounts for 3.5% of Blue Whale Capital LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Blue Whale Capital LLP owned about 0.53% of H&R Block worth $40,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HRB. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of H&R Block during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of H&R Block by 2,756.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 714 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in H&R Block by 4,152.9% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 723 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in H&R Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

H&R Block Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of HRB opened at $64.44 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $39.20 and a 1-year high of $68.45. The stock has a market cap of $8.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.51.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. H&R Block’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a $0.375 dividend. This is an increase from H&R Block’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. H&R Block’s payout ratio is presently 34.32%.

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

Insider Activity at H&R Block

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 712,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,860,656.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 9,722 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total value of $613,166.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 893,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,332,168.83. 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. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.