Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,864 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HRB. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 1,552.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in H&R Block by 129.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC raised its stake in H&R Block by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $85,000. 90.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HRB. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of H&R Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on H&R Block from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Northcoast Research cut H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

H&R Block Stock Performance

H&R Block stock opened at $55.11 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.66. H&R Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.16 and a fifty-two week high of $68.45. The company has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.25.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $5.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.26. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 179.57% and a net margin of 15.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.76%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 53,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.28, for a total value of $3,405,096.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 844,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,458,311.20. The trade was a 5.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.