Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Buys New Shares in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 9,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 86.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 86,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,476,000 after acquiring an additional 39,990 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 163,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 329.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 119,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,587,000 after acquiring an additional 91,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $222,000. 90.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

H&R Block Stock Up 1.3 %

HRB stock opened at $52.44 on Thursday. H&R Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $45.64 and a 12-month high of $68.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. The company has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.43.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.59) by ($0.14). H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 179.15% and a net margin of 14.71%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. 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.