Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 1,975 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 195,991 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,975 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.14% of H&R Block worth $10,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,253,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $753,143,000 after purchasing an additional 35,945 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,219,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,796,000 after buying an additional 282,633 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 58.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,500,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,814,000 after buying an additional 1,660,319 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in H&R Block by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,735,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,527,000 after buying an additional 476,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in H&R Block by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,050,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,358,000 after acquiring an additional 232,095 shares during the period. 90.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on HRB. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of H&R Block stock opened at $57.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. H&R Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.87 and a 12 month high of $68.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.59 and a 200 day moving average of $56.32. The firm has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a PE ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.39.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 14.71% and a negative return on equity of 179.15%. On average, research analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. H&R Block’s payout ratio is 41.32%.

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.