Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys Shares of 1,000 H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in H&R Block by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 11,966 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of H&R Block by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 34,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 38,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in H&R Block by 4.0% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 10,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

H&R Block Price Performance

H&R Block stock opened at $46.50 on Monday. H&R Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.44. The company has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.70.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported ($1.27) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.58) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $179.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.45 million. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.98% and a negative return on equity of 227.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.37) EPS. On average, analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 85,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.21, for a total value of $4,228,172.41. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 755,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,171,216.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised H&R Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on H&R Block from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th.

H&R Block 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.