Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) Stock Price Up 5.6% – Here’s What Happened

Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS) rose 5.6% on Monday. The company traded as high as $37.95 and last traded at $38.08. Approximately 138,398 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 302,987 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.05.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Worthington Steel from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research cut Worthington Steel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Worthington Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Worthington Steel in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Worthington Steel currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

Worthington Steel Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -62.38 and a beta of 2.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.81.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 6th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Worthington Steel had a positive return on equity of 7.49% and a negative net margin of 0.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 212.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Worthington Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 14th. Worthington Steel’s dividend payout ratio is -104.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 1,239.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Worthington Steel in the second quarter worth $51,000. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Worthington Steel in the first quarter worth $49,000. Security National Bank of SO Dak bought a new stake in Worthington Steel in the second quarter worth $111,000. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Worthington Steel during the first quarter valued at $244,000. 45.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Worthington Steel

Worthington Steel, Inc is a steel processing company that produces value-added flat-rolled steel products for manufacturers in the automotive, construction, energy, industrial and consumer markets. Its offerings include electrical steel, laser-welded and tailor-welded blanks, and other processed steel products designed to meet specific customer requirements.

The company provides services such as slitting, blanking, cold reduction, welding and other steel processing capabilities. Its products are used in applications including automotive components, electrical motors and transformers, building products, pressure vessels and industrial equipment.

Worthington Steel was separated from Worthington Industries as an independent public company in December 2023.