Bank of New York Mellon Corp Trims Holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,657,188 shares of the company's stock after selling 27,550 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.24% of H&R Block worth $90,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 58.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,500,552 shares of the company's stock valued at $237,814,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660,319 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at $57,253,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,585,026 shares of the company's stock valued at $136,591,000 after acquiring an additional 695,581 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY acquired a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 1st quarter valued at $30,429,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,701,896 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,448,000 after acquiring an additional 523,353 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HRB. Northcoast Research cut shares of H&R Block from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of H&R Block from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, 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.

H&R Block Stock Performance

NYSE HRB traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $55.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 962,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,487,283. The stock has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a PEG 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. The company's 50-day moving average is $56.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.60.

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

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. H&R Block's payout ratio is 36.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 53,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,458,311.20. This represents a 5.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

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.