Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Increases Stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its position in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 75.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 24,457 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,488 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $1,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRB. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of H&R Block by 58.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,500,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,814,000 after buying an additional 1,660,319 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in H&R Block during the 4th quarter valued at $57,253,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new position in H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at $25,552,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in H&R Block by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,735,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,527,000 after purchasing an additional 476,892 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in H&R Block by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,574,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,199,000 after purchasing an additional 330,279 shares during the period. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of HRB stock opened at $61.51 on Wednesday. H&R Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.87 and a twelve month high of $68.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.39.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.59) by ($0.14). H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 179.15% and a net margin of 14.71%. On average, analysts predict that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. H&R Block’s payout ratio is 41.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HRB shares. StockNews.com cut shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th.

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.