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Why Federated Hermes (FHI) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio

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Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.

Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and, of course, dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Based in Pittsburgh, Federated Hermes (FHI - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 10.72%. The one of the nation's largest managers of money market funds is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.38 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.64%. This compares to the Financial - Investment Management industry's yield of 2.67% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.45%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.52 is up 14.3% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Federated Hermes has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 0.78%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Federated Hermes's current payout ratio is 26%, meaning it paid out 26% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, FHI expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $5.10 per share, with earnings expected to increase 2.41% from the year ago period.

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout.

Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, FHI is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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