Federated Hermes (NYSE:FHI) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Federated Hermes, Inc. (NYSE:FHI)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $67.38 and last traded at $66.0150, with a volume of 5,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on FHI. Zacks Research cut Federated Hermes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Federated Hermes from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Federated Hermes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Federated Hermes from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Federated Hermes in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.80.

Federated Hermes Stock Up 0.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $58.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.67.

Federated Hermes (NYSE:FHI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.08. Federated Hermes had a return on equity of 33.94% and a net margin of 21.28%. The business had revenue of $507.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $504.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Federated Hermes, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Federated Hermes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Federated Hermes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.44%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Federated Hermes

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FHI. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Federated Hermes by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 616,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,967,000 after buying an additional 32,810 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Federated Hermes by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 485,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,546,000 after purchasing an additional 28,278 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Federated Hermes by 369.4% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 211,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,171,000 after buying an additional 166,518 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Federated Hermes by 3.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 162,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,240,000 after buying an additional 6,045 shares during the period. Finally, Kendall Capital Management boosted its holdings in Federated Hermes by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 131,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,417,000 after acquiring an additional 9,460 shares during the period. 75.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Federated Hermes Company Profile

Federated Hermes, Inc is a global investment management company that provides asset management services to individuals, financial intermediaries, corporations, governments and other institutions. The company manages a range of investment strategies, including equity, fixed-income, money market, multi-asset, alternative and liquidity management products.

Its offerings are distributed through mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, collective investment trusts and institutional mandates.