H&R Block, Inc. $HRB Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 60.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,572 shares of the company’s stock after selling 191,271 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.09% of H&R Block worth $6,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its position in shares of H&R Block by 5,391.0% in the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 621,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,113,000 after buying an additional 609,938 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in H&R Block during the second quarter worth about $20,723,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in H&R Block by 11.2% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,608,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,233,000 after acquiring an additional 263,274 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,667,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,571,000 after purchasing an additional 209,019 shares during the period. Finally, Midwest Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $9,678,000. 90.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HRB. Zacks Research downgraded shares of H&R Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of H&R Block from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

H&R Block Stock Performance

H&R Block stock opened at $42.12 on Monday. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.38 and a 52 week high of $64.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.86. The stock has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $48.78 and a 200-day moving average of $52.40.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($1.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.40) by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $203.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $200.13 million. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.11% and a negative return on equity of 191.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.17) earnings per share. H&R Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.850-5.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 128,818 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.54, for a total value of $5,737,553.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 861,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,362,881.02. The trade was a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.