Cerity Partners LLC Trims Holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB - Free Report) by 17.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 95,441 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,196 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.07% of H&R Block worth $5,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HRB. Arcus Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of H&R Block during the first quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in H&R Block by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 313,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,204,000 after purchasing an additional 14,518 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in H&R Block in the 1st quarter worth $213,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 11,942 shares of the company's stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 126,486 shares of the company's stock worth $6,945,000 after purchasing an additional 19,411 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of H&R Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on H&R Block from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Northcoast Research cut H&R Block from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HRB opened at $55.68 on Thursday. H&R Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.16 and a 1 year high of $68.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.36 and a 200 day moving average of $55.62. The stock has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.24.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $5.38 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. H&R Block had a net margin of 15.20% and a negative return on equity of 179.57%. The business's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.94 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. H&R Block's payout ratio is presently 36.76%.

About H&R Block

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.

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