Franklin Resources Inc. Has $15.18 Million Stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 29.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 250,280 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,311 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $15,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRB. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of H&R Block by 5.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,936,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $313,735,000 after purchasing an additional 255,354 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in H&R Block by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,738,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,492,000 after acquiring an additional 939,270 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in H&R Block by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,484,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,726,000 after acquiring an additional 23,792 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in H&R Block by 39.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,131,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,418,000 after acquiring an additional 606,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of H&R Block by 1,630.9% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 777,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,395,000 after purchasing an additional 732,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

H&R Block Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of H&R Block stock opened at $54.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.66. H&R Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $42.28 and a 1 year high of $68.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.13) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $193.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.78 million. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 212.45% and a net margin of 16.19%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.05) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.59%.

H&R Block 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.