ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC Purchases 209,655 Shares of Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS)

ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its stake in Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS - Free Report) by 67.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 518,486 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 209,655 shares during the quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC owned 0.85% of Federal Signal worth $47,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AXA S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 74,650 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,897,000 after purchasing an additional 12,120 shares during the period. 4D Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Federal Signal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,620,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Federal Signal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $450,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Federal Signal by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,371,000 after acquiring an additional 12,172 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 693,729 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $64,094,000 after acquiring an additional 67,716 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jennifer L. Sherman purchased 1,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $82.32 per share, for a total transaction of $102,900.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 559,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,031,944.56. This represents a 0.22 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Federal Signal Price Performance

Shares of FSS traded up $2.29 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $90.54. The stock had a trading volume of 264,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 434,551. The company has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.23. The company's 50-day moving average is $77.37 and its 200 day moving average is $87.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Federal Signal Co. has a 12-month low of $66.47 and a 12-month high of $102.18.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The conglomerate reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.03. Federal Signal had a return on equity of 18.46% and a net margin of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $463.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $462.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. Federal Signal's revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Federal Signal Co. will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Federal Signal declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the conglomerate to repurchase up to 3.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Federal Signal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Federal Signal's dividend payout ratio is 16.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FSS has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Federal Signal from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Federal Signal from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Federal Signal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st.

Federal Signal 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.