Sound Income Strategies LLC Sells 15,553 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Sound Income Strategies LLC cut its position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 5.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 272,595 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,553 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC owned approximately 0.20% of H&R Block worth $13,387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at $82,605,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 415.0% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 782,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,839,000 after buying an additional 630,384 shares during the period. Prevatt Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,413,000. Blue Whale Capital LLP boosted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 636.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 405,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,590,000 after buying an additional 350,000 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of H&R Block by 91.6% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 551,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,659,000 after acquiring an additional 263,546 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on HRB. Barrington Research boosted their target price on H&R Block from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. StockNews.com upgraded H&R Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th.

H&R Block Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:HRB traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $53.67. 1,230,658 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,108,109. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.69. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.66 and a 52 week high of $54.21.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $4.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.28. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 224.81% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.20 earnings per share. H&R Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is 29.29%.

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.