Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Federal Signal Corporation $FSS

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Federal Signal Corporation by 1.2%, owning 11.75% of the company, worth approximately $526.7 million, after selling 86,065 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts have issued various ratings for Federal Signal, with Wall Street Zen upgrading it from "hold" to "buy," while the **average target price** is set at $123.00.
• Federal Signal's latest quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $1.17 earnings per share, and the company has announced a dividend of $0.14 per share set to be paid on August 28th.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS - Free Report) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,161,738 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 86,065 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.75% of Federal Signal worth $526,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in Federal Signal by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 75,084 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,937,000 after acquiring an additional 17,462 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Federal Signal during the fourth quarter worth $36,636,000. Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Federal Signal during the 4th quarter valued at $976,000. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Federal Signal by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,292 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Federal Signal by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 171,411 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $15,838,000 after buying an additional 26,223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.73% of the company's stock.

Federal Signal Stock Performance

FSS traded up $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $126.39. 20,087 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 585,829. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Federal Signal Corporation has a 1 year low of $66.47 and a 1 year high of $130.30. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $111.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.30.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The conglomerate reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $564.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $537.24 million. Federal Signal had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The firm's revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Federal Signal Corporation will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Federal Signal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Federal Signal's payout ratio is 15.60%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on FSS. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Federal Signal in a research note on Friday, July 11th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Federal Signal from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Federal Signal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. CJS Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Federal Signal in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Federal Signal from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.00.

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.