H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Short Interest Up 23.2% in October

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,000,000 shares, a growth of 23.2% from the September 30th total of 8,930,000 shares. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.3 days.

Insider Activity at H&R Block

In other H&R Block news, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.17, for a total transaction of $5,165,309.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 90,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,871,491.15. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Kellie J. Logerwell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $515,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,189,910.34. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Tony G. Bowen sold 79,259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.17, for a total transaction of $5,165,309.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 90,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,871,491.15. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 115,927 shares of company stock worth $7,517,056. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H&R Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of H&R Block during the third quarter worth approximately $1,240,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in H&R Block by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new position in H&R Block during the 3rd quarter worth $208,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in H&R Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in H&R Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com lowered H&R Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on H&R Block from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th.

H&R Block Price Performance

NYSE HRB traded up $0.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.70. 968,800 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,158,016. H&R Block has a 1-year low of $39.20 and a 1-year high of $68.45. The company has a market cap of $8.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $62.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.46, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 220.05% and a net margin of 16.49%. H&R Block’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that H&R Block will post 5.22 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This is an increase from H&R Block’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 5th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.32%.

H&R Block declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, August 15th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 16.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.