Nicholas Investment Partners LP Raises Stake in Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 49,645 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 2,269 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP owned 0.08% of Federal Signal worth $4,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Federal Signal by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 649,593 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $60,016,000 after purchasing an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP raised its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP now owns 7,776 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Federal Signal by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 308,708 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,522,000 after acquiring an additional 36,956 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Federal Signal by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,228 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,162,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Federal Signal by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,618 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,798,000 after acquiring an additional 77,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.73% of the company’s stock.

Federal Signal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FSS opened at $94.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.23. Federal Signal Co. has a 12-month low of $66.47 and a 12-month high of $102.18.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The conglomerate reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $463.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $462.63 million. Federal Signal had a net margin of 11.57% and a return on equity of 18.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Federal Signal Co. will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Federal Signal declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 22nd that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to repurchase up to 3.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Federal Signal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Federal Signal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Federal Signal

In other news, CEO Jennifer L. Sherman bought 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $82.32 per share, for a total transaction of $102,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 559,183 shares in the company, valued at $46,031,944.56. This represents a 0.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FSS has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Federal Signal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Federal Signal from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Federal Signal from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Federal Signal from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Federal Signal has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.00.

About Federal Signal

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.