Barrington Research Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for H&R Block (NYSE:HRB)

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by analysts at Barrington Research in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Barrington Research’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 3.23% from the company’s current price.

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

H&R Block Stock Performance

Shares of H&R Block stock traded up $4.09 on Friday, reaching $53.28. The stock had a trading volume of 1,036,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,056,887. The stock has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $47.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.69. H&R Block has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $53.53.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $4.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.66 by $0.28. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.98% and a negative return on equity of 227.22%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that H&R Block will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 755,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,171,216.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H&R Block

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in H&R Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,605,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of H&R Block by 110.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,768,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,208,000 after buying an additional 1,453,504 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of H&R Block by 415.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 782,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,839,000 after acquiring an additional 630,384 shares in the last quarter. Prevatt Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of H&R Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,413,000. Finally, Blue Whale Capital LLP grew its position in H&R Block by 636.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 405,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,590,000 after acquiring an additional 350,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

About H&R Block

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.