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

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

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in H&R Block during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in H&R Block during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in H&R Block during the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in H&R Block during the fourth quarter valued at $75,000. 90.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HRB. StockNews.com raised shares of H&R Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Northcoast Research lowered H&R Block from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on H&R Block from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

H&R Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HRB opened at $58.02 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $57.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.28. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.23 and a 52-week high of $68.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.12 by $0.26. H&R Block had a net margin of 14.71% and a negative return on equity of 179.15%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.94 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. H&R Block's payout ratio is presently 36.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 53,810 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.28, for a total transaction of $3,405,096.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 844,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,458,311.20. This trade represents a 5.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

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.

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