H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Shares Sold by Kessler Investment Group LLC

Kessler Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,327 shares of the company’s stock after selling 708 shares during the quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in H&R Block by 4.2% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in H&R Block by 5.5% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in H&R Block by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in H&R Block by 5.4% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in H&R Block by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday.

H&R Block Stock Up 0.5 %

HRB stock opened at $52.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.64 and a 52 week high of $68.45.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) 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%. Equities analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. H&R Block’s payout ratio is presently 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.