H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Short Interest Update

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,730,000 shares, an increase of 9.7% from the January 15th total of 12,520,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 10.2 days. Currently, 10.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H&R Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 58.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,500,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,814,000 after buying an additional 1,660,319 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,253,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in H&R Block by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,585,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,591,000 after purchasing an additional 695,581 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in H&R Block by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,701,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,448,000 after purchasing an additional 523,353 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new stake in H&R Block during the fourth quarter valued at $25,552,000. Institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HRB shares. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

H&R Block Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:HRB opened at $52.62 on Tuesday. H&R Block has a 12 month low of $45.64 and a 12 month high of $68.45. The business’s 50-day moving average is $54.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.69.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.59) by ($0.14). H&R Block had a net margin of 14.71% and a negative return on equity of 179.15%. Research analysts predict that H&R Block will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

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