H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Short Interest Up 5.3% in August

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,530,000 shares, an increase of 5.3% from the August 15th total of 9,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.7 days. Currently, 6.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.55, for a total value of $2,453,386.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 712,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,860,656.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Dara S. Redler sold 9,100 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.10, for a total value of $583,310.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 22,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,414,430.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.55, for a total transaction of $2,453,386.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 712,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,860,656.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 160,902 shares of company stock valued at $9,970,442 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H&R Block

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HRB. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 shares of 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. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of H&R Block by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 5,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of H&R Block by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 7,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. raised its stake in shares of H&R Block by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Burney Co. now owns 57,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,109,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. 90.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

H&R Block Stock Performance

HRB opened at $62.77 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.66. H&R Block has a twelve month low of $39.20 and a twelve month high of $68.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share 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%. H&R Block’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that H&R Block will post 5.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 purchase up to 16.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

H&R Block Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This is an increase from H&R Block’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. H&R Block’s payout ratio is 34.32%.

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.