Hancock Whitney Corp Takes Position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Hancock Whitney Corp bought a new position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 15,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HRB. CWM LLC grew its position in H&R Block by 270.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 16,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 11,917 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of H&R Block by 576.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 580,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,496,000 after buying an additional 494,457 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in H&R Block by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 94,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,629,000 after buying an additional 18,556 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in H&R Block during the 1st quarter valued at $10,581,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in H&R Block by 413.1% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 72,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,583,000 after acquiring an additional 58,057 shares during the last quarter. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HRB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th.

H&R Block Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of HRB opened at $59.62 on Wednesday. H&R Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $42.28 and a 1-year high of $68.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $61.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.89. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $193.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.05) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. H&R Block’s payout ratio is currently 36.59%.

H&R Block announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, August 15th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 16.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 9,722 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total value of $613,166.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 893,169 shares in the company, valued at $56,332,168.83. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $515,280.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,189,910.34. This trade represents a 30.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

H&R Block Company Profile

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.