Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 35,945 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,253,276 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.40% of H&R Block worth $753,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRB. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of H&R Block by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 658 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in shares of H&R Block by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on HRB. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of HRB stock opened at $54.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $53.26 and its 200 day moving average is $56.86. H&R Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.87 and a 1-year high of $68.45.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.59) by ($0.14). H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 179.15% and a net margin of 14.71%. Research analysts predict that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.32%.

H&R Block Profile

H&R Block, Inc engages in the provision of tax return preparation solutions, financial products and small business solutions. The company was founded by Henry W. Bloch and Richard A. Bloch on January 25, 1955, and is headquartered in Kansas City, MO.