Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund cut its holdings in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,924 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $1,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in H&R Block by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,936,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,735,000 after purchasing an additional 255,354 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in H&R Block by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,735,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,527,000 after purchasing an additional 476,892 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in H&R Block by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,684,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,022,000 after purchasing an additional 47,920 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in H&R Block by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 884,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,748,000 after purchasing an additional 107,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in H&R Block by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 754,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,935,000 after purchasing an additional 25,234 shares during the last quarter. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barrington Research reiterated 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 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 NYSE HRB opened at $54.46 on Friday. H&R Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.87 and a twelve month high of $68.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. The company has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.31.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last issued its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 disclosed 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.