Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 651,000 shares, an increase of 8.8% from the May 15th total of 598,300 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 335,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Federal Signal Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE FSS opened at $85.04 on Wednesday. Federal Signal has a fifty-two week low of $56.37 and a fifty-two week high of $92.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.82. The company has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $85.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.57.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The conglomerate reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $424.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.58 million. Federal Signal had a return on equity of 17.36% and a net margin of 10.31%. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Federal Signal will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Federal Signal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Federal Signal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Federal Signal in a report on Friday, May 31st. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Federal Signal

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FSS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Federal Signal by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,786,204 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $575,945,000 after purchasing an additional 106,899 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Federal Signal by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,350,214 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $103,615,000 after buying an additional 31,807 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Federal Signal by 156.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 945,571 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,479,000 after buying an additional 576,643 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Federal Signal in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,130,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Federal Signal by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 649,953 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $49,877,000 after acquiring an additional 9,688 shares during the period. 92.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.