Sovereign s Capital Management LLC Takes $842,000 Position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Sovereign s Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 15,926 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $842,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HRB. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 16,998 shares of the company's stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 838 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $362,000. My Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 5,124 shares of the company's stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 107,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 3,280 shares during the last quarter. 90.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HRB. Wall Street Zen upgraded H&R Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. 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 issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Friday, April 25th. 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 Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of H&R Block stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Thursday, reaching $57.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,108,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,380,737. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46. The company has a market cap of $7.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.28. H&R Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.23 and a 1-year high of $68.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.04.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $5.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.12 by $0.26. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 179.15% and a net margin of 14.71%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.94 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given 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 yield of 2.60%. H&R Block's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 53,810 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.28, for a total transaction of $3,405,096.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.