Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Reduces Position in H&R Block, Inc. $HRB

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC trimmed its holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 64.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 97,904 shares of the company’s stock after selling 175,217 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned about 0.07% of H&R Block worth $5,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in H&R Block by 17.5% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in H&R Block by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 52,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,884,000 after acquiring an additional 14,934 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in H&R Block in the first quarter worth about $230,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 107,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,886,000 after acquiring an additional 8,598 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in H&R Block by 3.3% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 92,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,099,000 after purchasing an additional 2,944 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of H&R Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of H&R Block from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of H&R Block in a report on Monday, October 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 176,449 shares of H&R Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.46, for a total transaction of $8,197,820.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 906,313 shares in the company, valued at $42,107,301.98. The trade was a 16.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

H&R Block Price Performance

NYSE HRB opened at $42.12 on Friday. H&R Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.38 and a twelve month high of $64.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a PE ratio of 9.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.86, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($1.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.40) by $0.20. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.11% and a negative return on equity of 191.38%. The business had revenue of $203.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $200.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.17) earnings per share. H&R Block’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. H&R Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.850-5.000 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.75%.

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.