Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $26.88, but opened at $25.56. Worthington Steel shares last traded at $28.33, with a volume of 57,638 shares traded.

The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.32). Worthington Steel had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 12.59%. The company had revenue of $687.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $732.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Worthington Steel Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Worthington Steel’s payout ratio is 22.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Worthington Steel from $41.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,467,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,154,000 after acquiring an additional 550,181 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,557,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,955,000 after acquiring an additional 33,534 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Worthington Steel during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,741,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 771,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,240,000 after acquiring an additional 41,925 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 445,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,182,000 after acquiring an additional 15,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.41% of the company’s stock.

Worthington Steel Trading Down 6.0 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 9.20 and a beta of 2.62.

Worthington Steel Company Profile

Worthington Steel, Inc operates as a steel processor in North America. It offers carbon flat-rolled steel and tailor welded blanks, as well as electrical steel laminations; and aluminum tailor welded blanks. The company serves various end-markets, including automotive, heavy truck, agriculture, construction, and energy.