Creative Planning Has $2.51 Million Stock Position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Creative Planning reduced its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,185 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,346 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $2,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of H&R Block during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in H&R Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in H&R Block by 4,152.9% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in H&R Block by 2,756.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 714 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Rock Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of H&R Block during the fourth quarter worth $160,000. Institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Dara S. Redler sold 9,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.10, for a total value of $583,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 22,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,414,430.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Dara S. Redler sold 9,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.10, for a total value of $583,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,414,430.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 9,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total transaction of $613,166.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 893,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,332,168.83. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 115,927 shares of company stock valued at $7,517,056 in the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

H&R Block Stock Performance

HRB opened at $62.48 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. H&R Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.20 and a 12 month high of $68.45.

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

H&R Block announced that its board has authorized 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 buy up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

H&R Block Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were paid a $0.375 dividend. This is a positive change from H&R Block’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 5th. H&R Block’s payout ratio 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.