Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE:FHI) Short Interest Down 7.5% in September

Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE:FHI) saw a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,970,000 shares, a decrease of 7.5% from the September 15th total of 3,210,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 593,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FHI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Federated Hermes from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Federated Hermes from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com raised Federated Hermes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Federated Hermes from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Federated Hermes from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.80.

Federated Hermes Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of FHI traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $38.40. 386,824 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 710,130. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.07 and a 200-day moving average of $34.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Federated Hermes has a 1-year low of $30.23 and a 1-year high of $38.42.

Federated Hermes (NYSE:FHI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $402.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.35 million. Federated Hermes had a return on equity of 28.60% and a net margin of 15.90%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Federated Hermes will post 3.63 EPS for the current year.

Federated Hermes Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from Federated Hermes’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Federated Hermes’s dividend payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Federated Hermes

In related news, VP John B. Fisher sold 79,830 shares of Federated Hermes stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.71, for a total transaction of $2,611,239.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 442,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,476,464.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Federated Hermes by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,577,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,826,000 after buying an additional 45,214 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Federated Hermes by 88.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,866,000 after buying an additional 1,261,097 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Federated Hermes by 59.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,813,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,395,000 after purchasing an additional 673,496 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Federated Hermes by 39.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,184,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,116,000 after purchasing an additional 335,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Federated Hermes by 39.8% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,142,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,555,000 after purchasing an additional 324,958 shares during the last quarter. 75.94% of the stock is currently owned by 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.