Alps Advisors Inc. Acquires 14,518 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB - Free Report) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 313,312 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,518 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of H&R Block worth $17,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 58.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,500,552 shares of the company's stock worth $237,814,000 after buying an additional 1,660,319 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the fourth quarter worth about $57,253,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,585,026 shares of the company's stock worth $136,591,000 after buying an additional 695,581 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the first quarter worth about $30,429,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,701,896 shares of the company's stock worth $248,448,000 after purchasing an additional 523,353 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at H&R Block

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 53,810 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.28, for a total value of $3,405,096.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 844,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,458,311.20. This represents a 5.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on HRB shares. Northcoast Research cut H&R Block from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on H&R Block from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised H&R Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th.

H&R Block Stock Down 1.1%

H&R Block stock traded down $0.64 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.12. The stock had a trading volume of 846,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,403,425. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.59. The company has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.24. H&R Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.16 and a fifty-two week high of $68.45.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $5.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.25 billion. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 179.57% and a net margin of 15.20%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.94 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. H&R Block's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.76%.

H&R Block 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.