H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

Separately, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Wednesday.

H&R Block Stock Down 1.8 %

HRB stock opened at $53.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.69. H&R Block has a 12 month low of $44.81 and a 12 month high of $68.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 212.45% and a net margin of 16.19%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that H&R Block will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given 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 2.82%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.59%.

Institutional Trading of H&R Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in H&R Block during the third quarter valued at $1,821,000. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 413.1% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 72,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,583,000 after purchasing an additional 58,057 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 5.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,936,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $313,735,000 after purchasing an additional 255,354 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in H&R Block during the fourth quarter valued at $362,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 3.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 754,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,935,000 after purchasing an additional 25,234 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

About H&R Block

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.