Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) Insider Sells 18,370 Shares of Company Stock

Key Points

• Insider selling: Clifford Larivey sold 18,370 Worthington Steel shares for approximately $740,495, reducing his direct ownership by 35.4% to 33,519 shares. He also sold 1,300 shares in two earlier October transactions.
• Market and earnings performance: Worthington Steel shares rose 4.7% to $41.56, but the company’s latest quarterly results missed expectations, reporting $0.57 EPS versus the $1.16 consensus and revenue of $2.73 billion versus $3.14 billion expected.
• Outlook and shareholder returns: Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating and a $46 target price. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, representing a 1.5% annualized yield.

Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS - Get Free Report) insider Clifford Larivey sold 18,370 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.31, for a total transaction of $740,494.70. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 33,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,351,150.89. This trade represents a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Clifford Larivey also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, October 15th, Clifford Larivey sold 1,100 shares of Worthington Steel stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $44,044.00.
• On Tuesday, October 6th, Clifford Larivey sold 200 shares of Worthington Steel stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $8,000.00.

Worthington Steel Trading Up 4.7%

Shares of NYSE WS traded up $1.88 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $41.56. The stock had a trading volume of 534,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,741. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.13 and a beta of 2.24. The business's fifty day moving average price is $35.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.69. Worthington Steel, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.22 and a 52-week high of $49.17.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 212.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. Analysts expect that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Worthington Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 14th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Worthington Steel's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -104.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of Worthington Steel

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WS. Security National Bank of SO Dak bought a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel in the 2nd quarter valued at about $111,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Worthington Steel in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Worthington Steel in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,617,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Worthington Steel by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 240,916 shares of the company's stock worth $7,312,000 after acquiring an additional 28,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Worthington Steel by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 85,083 shares of the company's stock worth $2,582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,501 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.41% of the company's stock.

Worthington Steel Company Profile

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.

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