Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 7,154 Shares of Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS)

Brown Advisory Inc. lessened its holdings in Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS) by 46.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,182 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,154 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Federal Signal were worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FSS. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Federal Signal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,810,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Federal Signal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $78,192,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Federal Signal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,636,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Federal Signal in the first quarter valued at $26,144,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Federal Signal by 56.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 894,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $82,609,000 after buying an additional 322,676 shares in the last quarter. 92.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Federal Signal Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE FSS opened at $107.93 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $6.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.27. Federal Signal Corporation has a 12 month low of $66.47 and a 12 month high of $114.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $99.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.61.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The conglomerate reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.03. Federal Signal had a return on equity of 18.44% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $463.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $462.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Federal Signal Corporation will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Federal Signal declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to purchase up to 3.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Federal Signal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Federal Signal’s payout ratio is 16.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $120.00 target price on shares of Federal Signal and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Federal Signal from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Federal Signal in a research report on Friday.

Federal Signal 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.