Federated Hermes (NYSE:FHI) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Federated Hermes (NYSE:FHI) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

Several other research firms have also commented on FHI. UBS Group lifted their price target on Federated Hermes from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $41.00 price target (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Federated Hermes in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI set a $44.00 price target on Federated Hermes in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Federated Hermes from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $43.00 price target (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Federated Hermes in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.17.

Federated Hermes Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FHI opened at $38.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.70. Federated Hermes has a fifty-two week low of $31.24 and a fifty-two week high of $43.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.72.

Federated Hermes (NYSE:FHI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.08. Federated Hermes had a return on equity of 30.31% and a net margin of 16.44%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Federated Hermes will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Federated Hermes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Federated Hermes’s payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Saker Anwar Nusseibeh sold 5,546 shares of Federated Hermes stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.81, for a total value of $215,240.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,096 shares in the company, valued at $6,950,715.76. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Federated Hermes

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Federated Hermes by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,919,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $243,367,000 after buying an additional 253,553 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Federated Hermes by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,888,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,626,000 after buying an additional 63,664 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Federated Hermes by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,282,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,731,000 after buying an additional 32,070 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Federated Hermes by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,276,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,493,000 after buying an additional 446,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Federated Hermes by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 915,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,618,000 after buying an additional 145,878 shares in the last quarter. 75.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Federated Hermes

Federated Hermes, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, including high net worth individuals, banking or thrift institutions, investment companies, pension and profit sharing plans, pooled investment vehicles, charitable organizations, state or municipal government entities, and registered investment advisors.