Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 476,892 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 21.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,735,189 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 476,892 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $144,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 2,281 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in H&R Block by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in H&R Block in the fourth quarter worth about $311,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in H&R Block during the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in H&R Block by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 10,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

H&R Block Price Performance

HRB stock opened at $52.85 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.69. H&R Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $42.28 and a 12 month high of $68.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $55.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.13) by ($0.04). H&R Block had a net margin of 16.19% and a negative return on equity of 212.45%. The business had revenue of $193.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.05) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. H&R Block’s payout ratio is 36.59%.

H&R Block Company Profile

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.