Federated Hermes used its annual shareholder meeting on Saturday to underline both the scale of its business and a broader reshuffle at the top of the firm, while investors backed every item on the ballot, including a fuller stock incentive plan and the election of the board slate. The meeting also came with a higher quarterly dividend, reinforcing a long record of distributions as the asset manager continues to lean on money-market strength and growth in alternatives.

According to the company, shareholders re-elected six directors and approved an amendment to the stock incentive plan that adds 5 million Class B shares to the reserve. At the same time, the board lifted the quarterly payout to $0.38 a share from $0.34, payable on May 15 to holders of record on May 8. The vote followed a separate board decision last month to trim the annual unrestricted share grant for independent directors from 2,400 shares to 2,000, a change filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Leadership changes were also a central part of the gathering. J. Christopher Donahue said John B. Fisher would move to chairman of Federated Advisory Companies, while Paul Uhlman was set to take over Fisher’s role as president and chief executive of that unit. Bryan Burke is due to succeed Uhlman as president of Federated Securities Corp. Donahue thanked Fisher for decades of service to the firm, and the company’s leadership page lists the executives involved in the transition.

The update also provided a snapshot of trading conditions in the opening months of 2026. Federated Hermes said total managed assets reached a record $907 billion in the first quarter, with money-market assets at $685 billion and equity assets at $101 billion. Separate account assets also hit a record $288 billion. The company said the figures were helped by higher money-market balances and inflows into equity strategies.

Donahue also pointed to the acquisition completed on 9 April of a majority stake in FCP Fund Manager, a privately held US real estate investment manager with more than $3 billion of client assets. Federated Hermes said the deal broadens its property presence in major American markets and supports a push into private markets, where it now includes private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure and long/short strategies. The firm said its private-market push is part of a wider diversification effort that helped it post a 59% rise in 2025 earnings per share to $5.13, along with revenue growth of 10% and almost $5 billion in positive net equity sales.

For full-year 2025, the company said it returned $1.33 a share in four quarterly dividends and reached 112 straight quarterly payments by year-end. It also cited launches of two exchange-traded funds and two collective investment trusts, a majority investment in UK renewable energy project developer Rivington Energy Management, and new responsibility for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s treasury pool for local government bodies and non-profits. The meeting ended without any shareholder questions.

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Source: Noah Wire Services