Fund Evaluator:

Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F Overview

Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F (LFEIX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Large Value fund. Federated launched the fund in 1993.

The investment seeks above average income and capital appreciation. The fund invests primarily in income-producing and income-growing equity securities which the Adviser believes will appreciate in capital and generate an attractive total return. The fund’s holdings ordinarily will be in mid-capitalization (or “mid-cap”) to large-capitalization (or “large-cap”) domestic companies, although the fund may invest across all market capitalizations. The adviser, primarily selects dividend paying stocks that also have the prospect of raising their dividends over time, appreciating in capital, and generating an attractive total return.

About Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F (LFEIX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 0.85 years: Richard Wallach (2025), Darren Catanzaro (2025), Michael Tucker (2025). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 1000 Value TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F has 56 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 30.7% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F has 8.7% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 90.3%. There is 8.7% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F has 0.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $29 million in total assets, which is below the $1 billion average for the Large Value category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

LFEIX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Large Value category. Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F has an expense ratio of 1.38%, which is 49% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F has a portfolio turnover rate of 115%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 62% for the Large Value category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F returned 3.0%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Large Value category had an average return of 2.9%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F has a trailing yield of 1.28%, which is above the 1.20% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 11.9%, 2.4 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 17.6% over the past year (grade of F), 13.7% over the past three years (grade of D) and 8.5% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 9.3% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

For more mutual fund grades, analysis and screening tools to help your investment discovery, join AAII for a $2, full-access trial. Learn more here: https://invest.aaii.com/membership.

Otherwise, for more information about Federated Hermes Strategic Div Gr F, including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.