First Trust Advisors LP Sells 24,800 Shares of Worthington Steel, Inc. $WS

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS) by 20.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 98,301 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,800 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Worthington Steel were worth $2,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WS. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Worthington Steel by 56.4% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel during the first quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel during the fourth quarter worth $67,000. 45.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on WS shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Worthington Steel from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Worthington Steel from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Worthington Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Worthington Steel in a research report on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Insider Activity at Worthington Steel

In other Worthington Steel news, CFO Timothy A. Adams sold 2,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.27, for a total transaction of $100,053.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,098 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,022.46. The trade was a 5.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Clifford Larivey sold 11,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.09, for a total value of $445,199.45. Following the sale, the insider owned 64,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,578,107.72. The trade was a 14.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 33,708 shares of company stock valued at $1,431,830 over the last three months. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Worthington Steel Stock Performance

NYSE:WS opened at $37.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.46. Worthington Steel, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.22 and a fifty-two week high of $49.17. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77 and a beta of 2.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.02.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $929.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $992.00 million. Worthington Steel had a return on equity of 8.87% and a net margin of 0.50%.Worthington Steel’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Worthington Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Worthington Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.04%.

Worthington Steel Profile

Worthington Steel (NYSE: WS) is a leading North American steel processor specializing in the production of flat-rolled, coated and painted sheet and coil products. Operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Worthington Industries, the company serves a broad range of industries, including construction, automotive, appliance, energy and agricultural equipment. Its core business activities encompass the processing, finishing and distribution of carbon and advanced high-strength steels, aluminum and stainless products to manufacturers across the continent.

The company’s product portfolio includes hot-dip galvanizing, galvannealed, aluminized and pre-painted steel products, as well as cold-rolled and hot-rolled coil.