Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) Short Interest Update

Federal Signal Co. (NYSE:FSS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,390,000 shares, a growth of 9.4% from the September 15th total of 1,270,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 361,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Brenda Reichelderfer sold 25,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,339,206.83. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Federal Signal

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Federal Signal by 1.6% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Federal Signal by 20.3% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 912,392 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $76,340,000 after purchasing an additional 153,765 shares during the period. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Federal Signal by 13.0% during the first quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 616,913 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $52,357,000 after purchasing an additional 71,200 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted 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. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Federal Signal by 77.8% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 445,776 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $37,298,000 after purchasing an additional 195,017 shares during the period. 92.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Federal Signal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FSS traded up $0.63 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $94.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 158,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 339,013. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.51. Federal Signal has a fifty-two week low of $57.05 and a fifty-two week high of $102.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.89.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The conglomerate reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.11. Federal Signal had a return on equity of 18.31% and a net margin of 11.16%. The business had revenue of $490.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.74 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Federal Signal will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Federal Signal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Federal Signal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.59%.

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.