Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Reduces Position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB - Free Report) by 52.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,969 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,128 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in H&R Block were worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rockland Trust Co. raised its stake in H&R Block by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in H&R Block by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,642 shares of the company's stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in H&R Block by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 24,467 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Axiom Advisory LLC raised its stake in H&R Block by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,048 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,076,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in H&R Block by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 15,857 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,008,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. 90.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HRB. Barrington Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com cut H&R Block from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other H&R Block news, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was 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 owns 18,474 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,189,910.34. This represents a 30.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 9,722 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total value of $613,166.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 893,169 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,332,168.83. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of HRB stock traded up $1.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $58.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,569,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,196,681. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. The stock's 50-day moving average is $61.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.67. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $42.28 and a 52 week high of $68.45.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.13) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $193.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.78 million. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 212.45% and a net margin of 16.19%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.05) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. H&R Block's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.59%.

H&R Block announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 16.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

H&R Block Profile

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.