Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 637 H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRB. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in H&R Block in the first quarter valued at approximately $484,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 152.9% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 58,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,808,000 after acquiring an additional 35,552 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 500.0% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 38.3% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 6,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 49.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 307,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,077,000 after acquiring an additional 101,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $5,871,491.15. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,871,491.15. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 9,722 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 893,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,332,168.83. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,927 shares of company stock worth $7,517,056 over the last ninety days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HRB opened at $59.16 on Friday. H&R Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $41.98 and a fifty-two week high of $68.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.09 and a 200-day moving average of $56.91. 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 market cap of $8.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.67.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.15. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 220.05% and a net margin of 16.49%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, August 15th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. H&R Block’s payout ratio is 36.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on HRB. 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 note on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com cut 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 $70.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Friday.

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.