Insider Selling: Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) COO Sells $877,977.52 in Stock

Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS) COO Jeffrey Klingler sold 20,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.82, for a total transaction of $877,977.52. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 93,212 shares in the company, valued at $4,084,549.84. The trade was a 17.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Worthington Steel Trading Down 3.0%

WS opened at $41.52 on Friday. Worthington Steel, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.23 and a fifty-two week high of $49.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42 and a beta of 2.22. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.51.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) last posted 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 return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 3.64%.The business had revenue of $769.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $882.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Worthington Steel Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on WS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Worthington Steel in a report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of Worthington Steel from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Worthington Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Worthington Steel from $38.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Worthington Steel

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WS. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Worthington Steel by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 15,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Worthington Steel by 89.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 50,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 23,899 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Worthington Steel by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $490,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in Worthington Steel during the second quarter worth $670,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Worthington Steel by 3.9% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 127,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,815,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares in the last quarter. 45.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Worthington Steel

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.