PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Increases Position in Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS) by 29.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,069 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,267 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Federal Signal were worth $741,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FSS. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 21,098 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,949,000 after buying an additional 7,696 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 75,084 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,937,000 after buying an additional 17,462 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,902 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,083,000 after buying an additional 27,321 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,469,614 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $135,778,000 after buying an additional 238,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Federal Signal by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 40,484 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,740,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. 92.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Federal Signal Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Federal Signal stock opened at $126.30 on Tuesday. Federal Signal Corporation has a 52-week low of $66.47 and a 52-week high of $128.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.53. The firm has a market cap of $7.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.30.

Federal Signal (NYSE:FSS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The conglomerate reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.11. Federal Signal had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The business had revenue of $564.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $537.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Federal Signal Corporation will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Federal Signal declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to repurchase up to 3.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Federal Signal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Federal Signal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FSS. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Federal Signal from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Federal Signal in a research note on Friday, July 11th. CJS Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Federal Signal in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Federal Signal from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Federal Signal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

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.