Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE:FHI) Short Interest Update

Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE:FHI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,370,000 shares, an increase of 8.7% from the March 31st total of 2,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 771,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Federated Hermes

In other Federated Hermes news, VP Paul A. Uhlman sold 13,820 shares of Federated Hermes stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.20, for a total transaction of $500,284.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 276,084 shares in the company, valued at $9,994,240.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Federated Hermes news, VP Paul A. Uhlman sold 90,745 shares of Federated Hermes stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.26, for a total transaction of $3,199,668.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 289,904 shares in the company, valued at $10,222,015.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paul A. Uhlman sold 13,820 shares of Federated Hermes stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.20, for a total transaction of $500,284.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 276,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,994,240.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,775 shares of company stock worth $4,032,822 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FHI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Federated Hermes in the first quarter worth approximately $29,518,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Federated Hermes by 59.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,813,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,395,000 after buying an additional 673,496 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Federated Hermes by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,033,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,470,000 after buying an additional 562,232 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Federated Hermes by 183.5% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 801,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,145,000 after buying an additional 518,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Federated Hermes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,474,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.94% of the company’s stock.

Federated Hermes Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Federated Hermes stock opened at $32.79 on Thursday. Federated Hermes has a 52-week low of $30.23 and a 52-week high of $41.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.45 and a 200 day moving average of $34.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.12.

Federated Hermes (NYSE:FHI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89. Federated Hermes had a net margin of 18.75% and a return on equity of 27.00%. The company had revenue of $396.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Federated Hermes will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Federated Hermes Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a None dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a yield of 3.8%. This is an increase from Federated Hermes’s previous None dividend of $1.27. Federated Hermes’s payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FHI. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Federated Hermes from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Federated Hermes from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Federated Hermes from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Federated Hermes from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Federated Hermes in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Federated Hermes has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.29.

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.