South Dakota Investment Council Raises Position in H&R Block, Inc. $HRB

South Dakota Investment Council grew its holdings in H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) by 679.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 97,465 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 84,964 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in H&R Block were worth $3,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 934,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,744,000 after buying an additional 150,719 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in H&R Block by 1,999.7% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 106,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,461,000 after acquiring an additional 101,025 shares in the last quarter. Ceera Investments LLC boosted its position in H&R Block by 299.1% during the first quarter. Ceera Investments LLC now owns 42,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 31,648 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of H&R Block by 543.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 67,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,128,000 after purchasing an additional 56,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of H&R Block during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,523,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HRB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of H&R Block in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of H&R Block in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded H&R Block from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut H&R Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.00.

H&R Block Trading Down 6.1%

NYSE:HRB opened at $44.28 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.52. H&R Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.16 and a 1-year high of $55.95. The stock has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.88, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.36.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $6.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.77 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 211.62% and a net margin of 18.90%.The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.38 earnings per share. H&R Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.100-5.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that H&R Block, Inc. will post 5.18 EPS for the current year.

H&R Block Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio is 29.89%.

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.