Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 86,065 Shares of 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. cut its holdings in shares of Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,161,738 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 86,065 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.75% of Federal Signal worth $526,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FSS. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Federal Signal during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Federal Signal by 78.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 421 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in Federal Signal by 201.8% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 658 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Federal Signal by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 875 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Federal Signal by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,119 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. 92.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Federal Signal Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE FSS traded up $1.23 during trading on Monday, hitting $125.67. The company had a trading volume of 122,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,404. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company's fifty day moving average is $111.32 and its 200-day moving average is $94.37. Federal Signal Corporation has a one year low of $66.47 and a one year high of $130.30.

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

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

Federal Signal Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.