H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) CEO Sells $2,453,386.25 in Stock

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 44,975 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.55, for a total value of $2,453,386.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 712,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,860,656.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

H&R Block Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:HRB opened at $56.04 on Thursday. H&R Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.66 and a 12-month high of $56.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.68.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $4.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.14 billion. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 224.81% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research 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 was paid on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 5th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.29%.

Institutional Trading of H&R Block

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in H&R Block by 91.9% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of H&R Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in H&R Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in H&R Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.