HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS - Free Report) by 67.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,194 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,149 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Worthington Steel worth $961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WS. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Worthington Steel during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $213,000. MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel during the third quarter worth $239,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 36.8% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,523 shares of the company's stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 2,291 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Worthington Steel in the 4th quarter valued at $290,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Worthington Steel by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 9,916 shares of the company's stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Worthington Steel from $41.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th.

Worthington Steel Price Performance

WS traded down $0.87 during trading on Friday, reaching $25.69. 225,965 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 246,644. Worthington Steel, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.22 and a 1 year high of $47.19. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $27.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 2.62.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.32). The business had revenue of $687.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $732.00 million. Worthington Steel had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 4.36%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Worthington Steel Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. Worthington Steel's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.91%.

Worthington Steel 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.