Nomura Holdings Inc. Buys New Stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 18,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $961,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 58.5% in the fourth 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 bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,253,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 695,581 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 523,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,552,000. 90.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a report on Friday, April 25th. Northcoast Research cut H&R Block from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised H&R Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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.

H&R Block Trading Up 0.3%

HRB traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $57.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 891,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,383,276. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business's 50-day moving average is $57.80 and its 200-day moving average is $55.90. H&R Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.23 and a fifty-two week high of $68.45. The stock has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.28.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 179.15% and a net margin of 14.71%. H&R Block's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. H&R Block's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.76%.

Insider Transactions at H&R Block

In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 53,810 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 844,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,458,311.20. The trade was a 5.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

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.