Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) Short Interest Update

Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,830,000 shares, a growth of 22.0% from the October 15th total of 1,500,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 375,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Brenda Reichelderfer sold 25,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total transaction of $2,388,448.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 57,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,339,206.83. This represents a 30.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Federal Signal by 150.0% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 30,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,546,000 after purchasing an additional 18,000 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Federal Signal in the first quarter valued at approximately $919,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Federal Signal by 22.6% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 59,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,069,000 after acquiring an additional 11,013 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Federal Signal by 615.7% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 40,292 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 34,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Federal Signal by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,786,204 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $575,945,000 after purchasing an additional 106,899 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.73% of the company’s stock.

Federal Signal Stock Performance

Shares of FSS stock traded down $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $89.31. The stock had a trading volume of 446,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 532,548. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.89 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.04. Federal Signal has a twelve month low of $68.02 and a twelve month high of $102.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The conglomerate reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $474.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $481.71 million. Federal Signal had a net margin of 11.57% and a return on equity of 18.46%. Federal Signal’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Federal Signal will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Federal Signal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Federal Signal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Federal Signal from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Federal Signal Company Profile

Federal Signal Corp. engages in the design and manufacture of products and integrated solutions for municipal, governmental, industrial, and commercial customers. It operates through the Environmental Solutions Group and Safety and Security Systems Group segments. The Environment Solutions Group segment is involved in the manufacture and supply of street sweeper vehicles, sewer cleaners, vacuum loader trucks, hydro-excavation trucks, and water blasting equipment.