First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Has $646,000 Stock Holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,160 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $646,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in H&R Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in H&R Block by 4,152.9% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in H&R Block by 2,756.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its position in H&R Block by 98.5% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. 90.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on HRB. StockNews.com lowered H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price 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. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed 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

Shares of HRB opened at $61.49 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $62.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.66. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.20 and a 52 week high of $68.45.

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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 220.05% and a net margin of 16.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.05 EPS. Equities analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This is a positive change 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 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. H&R Block’s payout ratio is currently 34.32%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.17, for a total value of $5,165,309.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 90,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,871,491.15. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Dara S. Redler sold 9,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.10, for a total value of $583,310.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 22,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,414,430.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.17, for a total transaction of $5,165,309.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 90,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,871,491.15. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,927 shares of company stock valued at $7,517,056 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

H&R Block Company 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.