Retirement Systems of Alabama Purchases 69,846 Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 23.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 363,889 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 69,846 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.25% of H&R Block worth $17,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HRB. Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in H&R Block by 198.1% during the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 223,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,608,000 after purchasing an additional 148,274 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 155,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,500,000 after acquiring an additional 38,476 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in H&R Block during the 4th quarter valued at $1,228,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 14.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 514,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,162,000 after purchasing an additional 63,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in shares of H&R Block in the third quarter valued at about $1,184,000. 90.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on HRB. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of H&R Block from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded H&R Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at H&R Block

In related news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 85,921 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.21, for a total transaction of $4,228,172.41. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 755,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,171,216.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

H&R Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRB opened at $47.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.47. H&R Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $52.90.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported ($1.27) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.58) by $0.31. The business had revenue of $179.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.45 million. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 227.22% and a net margin of 16.98%. H&R Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.37) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that H&R Block, Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&R Block Company Profile

H&R Block, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides assisted income tax return preparation and do-it-yourself (DIY) tax return preparation services and products to the general public primarily in the United States, Canada, and Australia. It offers assisted income tax return preparation and related services through a system of retail offices operated directly by the company or its franchisees.