First Trust Advisors LP Increases Position in H&R Block, Inc. $HRB

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 26.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 938,537 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 197,152 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.74% of H&R Block worth $47,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,849,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,439,000 after acquiring an additional 150,184 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in H&R Block by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,316,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,141,000 after purchasing an additional 56,147 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in H&R Block during the second quarter worth $97,826,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in H&R Block by 21.8% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,750,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,099,000 after purchasing an additional 312,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in H&R Block by 5.5% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,598,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,750,000 after purchasing an additional 83,103 shares in the last quarter. 90.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on HRB. Barrington Research lowered their target price on H&R Block from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of H&R Block from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of H&R Block from $48.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, H&R Block presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

H&R Block Price Performance

H&R Block stock opened at $30.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.38. H&R Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.16 and a 12-month high of $64.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.86, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.72.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported ($1.84) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.96) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $198.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $187.36 million. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.19% and a negative return on equity of 176.02%. The company’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.73) earnings per share. H&R Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.850-5.000 EPS. Equities analysts predict that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

H&R Block Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.80%.

About H&R Block

H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) is a leading provider of tax preparation services and software solutions, serving individual and small-business clients through a combination of retail offices, online platforms and mobile applications. The company offers assisted tax preparation at its network of retail offices, where clients work with trained tax professionals, as well as do-it-yourself (DIY) software and online filing services designed to guide users through the complexities of federal and state tax returns.

Founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W.