Principal Securities Inc. Acquires 1,338 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,104 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,338 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in H&R Block by 86.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 86,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,476,000 after buying an additional 39,990 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in H&R Block by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 163,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,392,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in H&R Block by 329.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 119,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,587,000 after buying an additional 91,604 shares during the period. Eastern Bank bought a new position in H&R Block in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in H&R Block in the 3rd quarter worth $15,750,000. Institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HRB. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

H&R Block Stock Down 0.2 %

HRB opened at $52.29 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.37. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.87 and a 52 week high of $68.45. The company has a market capitalization of $7.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.69. 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) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported ($1.73) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.59) by ($0.14). H&R Block had a net margin of 14.71% and a negative return on equity of 179.15%. Analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.32%.

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.