Chase Investment Counsel Corp Purchases New Shares in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new stake in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 21,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,015,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in H&R Block by 198.1% during the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 223,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,608,000 after acquiring an additional 148,274 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $7,500,000 after buying an additional 38,476 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,228,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of H&R Block by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 514,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,162,000 after acquiring an additional 63,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,184,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

H&R Block Trading Up 1.5 %

HRB stock traded up $0.70 during trading on Monday, hitting $47.20. The company had a trading volume of 196,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,058,722. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.44. The company has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.70. H&R Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.90.

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

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

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.