First Trust Advisors LP Buys 276,193 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. $HRB

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 26.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,328,584 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 276,193 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.05% of H&R Block worth $42,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of H&R Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of H&R Block by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 82.1% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 843 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 100.8% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 711 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. 90.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on HRB shares. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research upgraded H&R Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised H&R Block from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

H&R Block Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of NYSE HRB opened at $42.32 on Tuesday. H&R Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.16 and a 1-year high of $55.95. The company has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a PE ratio of 7.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.49.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.77 by $0.25. H&R Block had a net margin of 18.90% and a negative return on equity of 211.62%. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.38 earnings per share. H&R Block’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. H&R Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.100-5.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.89%.

H&R Block Profile

H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) is a leading provider of tax preparation services and software solutions, serving individual and small-business clients through a combination of retail offices, online platforms and mobile applications. The company offers assisted tax preparation at its network of retail offices, where clients work with trained tax professionals, as well as do-it-yourself (DIY) software and online filing services designed to guide users through the complexities of federal and state tax returns.

Founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W.