Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) Stock: Insider Clifford Larivey Sells 7,168 Shares

Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS) insider Clifford Larivey sold 7,168 shares of Worthington Steel stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.18, for a total value of $288,010.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,351 shares in the company, valued at $1,058,783.18. This represents a 21.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Clifford Larivey also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, October 16th, Clifford Larivey sold 18,370 shares of Worthington Steel stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.31, for a total value of $740,494.70.
• On Thursday, October 15th, Clifford Larivey sold 1,100 shares of Worthington Steel stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total value of $44,044.00.
• On Tuesday, October 6th, Clifford Larivey sold 200 shares of Worthington Steel stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $8,000.00.

Worthington Steel Stock Down 0.8%

Worthington Steel stock traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $40.90. The stock had a trading volume of 332,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 309,219. The company has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.05 and a beta of 2.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $35.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.84. Worthington Steel, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $49.17.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.59). Worthington Steel had a negative net margin of 0.56% and a positive return on equity of 7.49%. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 212.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Worthington Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 14th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 14th. Worthington Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -104.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WS shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Worthington Steel from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Zacks Research lowered Worthington Steel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Worthington Steel in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Worthington Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Worthington Steel

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Worthington Steel by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,520,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,485,000 after acquiring an additional 68,775 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Worthington Steel during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,617,000. Windsor Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Worthington Steel by 32.9% during the 1st quarter. Windsor Advisory Group LLC now owns 275,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,373,000 after purchasing an additional 68,330 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Worthington Steel by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 240,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,312,000 after purchasing an additional 28,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 29.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 201,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,113,000 after purchasing an additional 46,358 shares during the period. 45.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Worthington Steel

Worthington Steel, Inc (NYSE: WS) is a steel processing company that produces value-added flat-rolled steel products for manufacturers and industrial customers. The company processes carbon steel, electrical steel and other specialty steel products, with offerings that include coated and treated steel, electrical steel laminations and tailor-welded blanks.

Its products are used in a range of applications, including automotive components, electrical equipment, motors and transformers, construction products, appliances, energy systems, agriculture and general industrial manufacturing.