Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) Short Interest Up 21.0% in September

Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,270,000 shares, an increase of 21.0% from the August 31st total of 1,050,000 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 362,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Brenda Reichelderfer sold 25,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $2,388,448.15. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 57,417 shares in the company, valued at $5,339,206.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Federal Signal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Federal Signal by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,786,204 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $575,945,000 after buying an additional 106,899 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Federal Signal by 20.3% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 912,392 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $76,340,000 after acquiring an additional 153,765 shares during the last quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Federal Signal by 13.0% in the first quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 616,913 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $52,357,000 after purchasing an additional 71,200 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in Federal Signal by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 524,962 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,286,000 after purchasing an additional 16,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Federal Signal by 2.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 524,869 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $43,916,000 after purchasing an additional 11,685 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.73% of the company’s stock.

Federal Signal Price Performance

Federal Signal stock traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $93.46. 458,351 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 346,369. The company has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.60. Federal Signal has a 1 year low of $57.05 and a 1 year high of $102.18.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The conglomerate reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $490.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $487.74 million. Federal Signal had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 18.31%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Federal Signal will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Federal Signal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Federal Signal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.22%.

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.