H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Separately, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a report on Wednesday, February 5th.

H&R Block Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:HRB opened at $52.36 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $54.25 and a 200-day moving average of $58.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. The firm has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.69. H&R Block has a twelve month low of $45.64 and a twelve month high of $68.45.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that H&R Block will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.32%.

Institutional Trading of H&R Block

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the third quarter worth about $35,000. Creative Planning grew its position in H&R Block by 86.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 86,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,476,000 after purchasing an additional 39,990 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in H&R Block by 32.1% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 285,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,136,000 after acquiring an additional 69,414 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of H&R Block in the third quarter valued at $394,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

H&R Block Company 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.