Kellie J. Logerwell Sells 8,000 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Stock

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $515,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,189,910.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

H&R Block Price Performance

H&R Block stock traded down $0.94 on Tuesday, reaching $63.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 977,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,157,459. H&R Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.20 and a twelve month high of $68.45. The company has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.17.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.49% and a negative return on equity of 220.05%. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. Equities analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. This is a positive change from H&R Block’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.32%.

H&R Block declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, August 15th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 16.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in H&R Block by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,295,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,081,000 after purchasing an additional 558,076 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 30.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,270,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,614,000 after buying an additional 758,827 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 52.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,738,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,492,000 after buying an additional 939,270 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in H&R Block by 1.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,484,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,726,000 after acquiring an additional 23,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in H&R Block by 39.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,131,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,418,000 after acquiring an additional 606,250 shares during the period. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About H&R Block

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.