H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.00.

Several brokerages have recently commented on HRB. Weiss Ratings cut shares of H&R Block from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. 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 for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barrington Research cut their target price on H&R Block from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th.

Insider Transactions at H&R Block

In other H&R Block news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 176,449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.46, for a total transaction of $8,197,820.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 906,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,107,301.98. The trade was a 16.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H&R Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in H&R Block in the second quarter worth approximately $1,004,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of H&R Block by 31.1% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 99,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,948,000 after purchasing an additional 23,624 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of H&R Block by 64.8% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of H&R Block in the 2nd quarter worth $2,130,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in H&R Block by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,091,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,919,000 after purchasing an additional 215,472 shares during the period. 90.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

H&R Block Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of H&R Block stock opened at $32.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.86, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.52 and a 200-day moving average of $47.12. H&R Block has a 52-week low of $32.22 and a 52-week high of $64.62. The stock has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 7.59, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.36.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $198.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.36 million. H&R Block had a net margin of 16.19% and a negative return on equity of 176.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.73) earnings per share. H&R Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.850-5.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that H&R Block will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.80%.

H&R Block Company Profile

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.