Fisher Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Worthington Steel, Inc. $WS

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS) by 24.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 238,338 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 46,665 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Worthington Steel were worth $8,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WS. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 56.4% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 39.8% during the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 149.9% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Worthington Steel by 50.9% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the period. 45.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Clifford Larivey sold 11,105 shares of Worthington Steel 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 transaction, the insider owned 64,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,578,107.72. This trade represents a 14.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WS. Wall Street Zen downgraded Worthington Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Worthington Steel in a research report on Monday, April 20th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Worthington Steel in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Worthington Steel from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

Worthington Steel Price Performance

Shares of Worthington Steel stock opened at $42.32 on Thursday. Worthington Steel, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.23 and a twelve month high of $49.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.89 and a beta of 2.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.02.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.20). Worthington Steel had a net margin of 3.64% and a return on equity of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $769.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $882.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Worthington Steel’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Worthington Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Worthington Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

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.