Captrust Financial Advisors Lowers Stock Position in Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS)

Captrust Financial Advisors trimmed its stake in Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,289 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 781 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Federal Signal were worth $1,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FSS. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 691,798 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $63,915,000 after buying an additional 123,892 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in Federal Signal by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 111,432 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,295,000 after acquiring an additional 45,455 shares during the period. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its stake in Federal Signal by 67.9% during the fourth quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 518,486 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $47,903,000 after purchasing an additional 209,655 shares during the period. AXA S.A. increased its stake in Federal Signal by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 74,650 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,897,000 after purchasing an additional 12,120 shares during the period. Finally, 4D Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Federal Signal during the fourth quarter worth about $4,620,000. 92.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FSS. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Federal Signal from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Federal Signal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. KeyCorp upgraded Federal Signal from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective on Federal Signal from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Federal Signal currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.00.

Insider Transactions at Federal Signal

In other Federal Signal news, CEO Jennifer L. Sherman acquired 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $46,031,944.56. This trade represents a 0.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Federal Signal Price Performance

Federal Signal stock opened at $93.73 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.17. Federal Signal Co. has a 12 month low of $66.47 and a 12 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.23.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $463.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $462.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Federal Signal Co. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Federal Signal Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Federal Signal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.37%.

Federal Signal announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 22nd that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to repurchase up to 3.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.