Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE:FHI) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE:FHI) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,120,000 shares, an increase of 29.3% from the January 31st total of 1,640,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 644,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FHI shares. Evercore ISI set a $44.00 target price on Federated Hermes in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Federated Hermes from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $43.00 price objective (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Federated Hermes in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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, StockNews.com raised Federated Hermes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.17.

Insider Transactions at Federated Hermes

In related news, CEO Saker Anwar Nusseibeh sold 5,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.81, for a total transaction of $215,240.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,950,715.76. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Federated Hermes

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Federated Hermes by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,919,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,367,000 after purchasing an additional 253,553 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Federated Hermes by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,888,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,626,000 after purchasing an additional 63,664 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Federated Hermes by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,282,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,731,000 after purchasing an additional 32,070 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Federated Hermes by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,276,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,493,000 after purchasing an additional 446,683 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Federated Hermes by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 915,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,618,000 after acquiring an additional 145,878 shares during the period. 75.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Federated Hermes Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE:FHI traded down $0.92 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $37.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,020,917 shares, compared to its average volume of 711,744. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.06 and a 200 day moving average of $38.72. The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.16. Federated Hermes has a 1 year low of $31.24 and a 1 year high of $43.92.

Federated Hermes (NYSE:FHI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Federated Hermes will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Federated Hermes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Federated Hermes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

Federated Hermes Company Profile

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.