Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) Share Price Breaks Below 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS) shares crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $37.67 and traded as low as $35.86. Worthington Steel shares last traded at $35.9250, with a volume of 495,783 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Worthington Steel Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -60.26 and a beta of 2.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.59). The business had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Worthington Steel had a positive return on equity of 7.49% and a negative net margin of 0.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 212.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Worthington Steel Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 is Monday, December 14th. Worthington Steel’s dividend payout ratio is presently -104.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Worthington Steel

In other news, insider Clifford Larivey sold 7,168 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.18, for a total value of $288,010.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,058,783.18. This trade represents a 21.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 26,838 shares of company stock valued at $1,080,549 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WS. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Worthington Steel by 1,239.3% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Security National Bank of SO Dak acquired a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel in the second quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System acquired a new position in Worthington Steel during the 3rd quarter worth $252,000. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in Worthington Steel by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 8,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.41% of the company’s stock.

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.