Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Has $6 Million Stock Holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp trimmed its position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 122,107 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,230 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned 0.09% of H&R Block worth $5,997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 518 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in H&R Block during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of H&R Block in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barrington Research raised their price objective on H&R Block from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th.

H&R Block Trading Up 0.3 %

HRB traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.37. 14,648 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,102,384. H&R Block, Inc. has a one year low of $31.91 and a one year high of $56.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.68.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $4.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.29%.

Insider Transactions at H&R Block

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.