Swedbank AB Buys 69,414 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 285,382 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 69,414 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $18,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 576.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 580,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,496,000 after purchasing an additional 494,457 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in H&R Block by 24.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 94,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,629,000 after buying an additional 18,556 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 72,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,557,000 after buying an additional 8,749 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC purchased a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 1st quarter worth about $821,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of H&R Block by 575.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 37,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,835,000 after acquiring an additional 31,842 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 9,722 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 893,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,332,168.83. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $515,280.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,474 shares in the company, valued at $1,189,910.34. The trade was a 30.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th.

H&R Block Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE HRB opened at $59.62 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.89. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $42.28 and a 52-week high of $68.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.67.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.13) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $193.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.78 million. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.19% and a negative return on equity of 212.45%. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.05) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, August 15th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. H&R Block’s payout ratio is 36.59%.

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.