StockNews.com Downgrades Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Federal Signal in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Federal Signal from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Federal Signal Stock Performance

Shares of Federal Signal stock opened at $81.03 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $94.93 and a 200-day moving average of $92.70. Federal Signal has a 1-year low of $76.85 and a 1-year high of $102.18. 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 $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 23.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.01.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The conglomerate reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.87. The business had revenue of $472.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $481.90 million. Federal Signal had a net margin of 11.57% and a return on equity of 18.46%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Federal Signal will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Federal Signal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.14 dividend. This is a boost from Federal Signal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Federal Signal’s dividend payout ratio is 16.23%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Federal Signal

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FSS. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Federal Signal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $79,810,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Federal Signal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $78,192,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Federal Signal in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,636,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Federal Signal by 56.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 894,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $82,609,000 after acquiring an additional 322,676 shares during the period. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Federal Signal during the third quarter worth $28,863,000. 92.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.