H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) Sets New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $32.38 and last traded at $32.67, with a volume of 51854 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on HRB. Barrington Research dropped their price objective on H&R Block from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $32.00 price objective on H&R Block in a research report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded H&R Block from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $41.00.

H&R Block Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $41.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.29. 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 company has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.51, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.36.

H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported ($1.84) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.96) by $0.12. H&R Block had a negative return on equity of 176.02% and a net margin of 16.19%.The firm had revenue of $198.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.73) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. H&R Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.850-5.000 EPS. Analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. H&R Block’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Jones II sold 128,818 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.54, for a total value of $5,737,553.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 861,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,362,881.02. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in H&R Block in the second quarter valued at $97,826,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of H&R Block by 60.4% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,593,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,961,000 after purchasing an additional 976,069 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in H&R Block by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,886,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,542,000 after acquiring an additional 652,690 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in H&R Block by 71,048.9% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 597,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,046,000 after purchasing an additional 596,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of H&R Block by 335.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 749,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,892,000 after acquiring an additional 577,200 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 (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.