Stevens Capital Management LP Makes New $214,000 Investment in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in H&R Block by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 98,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,210,000 after purchasing an additional 25,215 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in H&R Block in the fourth quarter valued at $3,184,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in H&R Block by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 371,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,643,000 after acquiring an additional 34,089 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in H&R Block by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter worth about $903,000. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th.

H&R Block Trading Up 1.3 %

HRB opened at $53.17 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $53.39 and its 200-day moving average is $57.08. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.87 and a 52-week high of $68.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.65.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%. Analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.32%.

About H&R Block

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.