Boston Partners Increases Stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Boston Partners grew its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 58.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,500,552 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,660,319 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in H&R Block were worth $237,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in H&R Block by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,219,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,796,000 after purchasing an additional 282,633 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in H&R Block by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,735,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,527,000 after purchasing an additional 476,892 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in H&R Block by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,684,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,022,000 after purchasing an additional 47,920 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its stake in H&R Block by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 1,095,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,897,000 after purchasing an additional 113,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in H&R Block by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 884,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,748,000 after purchasing an additional 107,450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HRB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

H&R Block Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:HRB opened at $52.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.39. H&R Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $45.87 and a 12-month high of $68.45.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. H&R Block’s dividend 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.