Norges Bank Purchases New Position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,083,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,253,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HRB. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,645 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in H&R Block by 170.4% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 24,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,562,000 after buying an additional 15,489 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the third quarter worth $204,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the third quarter valued at about $393,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of H&R Block by 18.5% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 2,803 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

H&R Block Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE HRB opened at $56.98 on Friday. H&R Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.87 and a 52 week high of $68.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $53.44 and its 200 day moving average is $56.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.65.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its earnings results 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%. Sell-side 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. H&R Block’s payout ratio is presently 41.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

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.