Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel, Inc. (NYSE:WS) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,118 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,948 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.06% of Worthington Steel worth $1,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WS. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in Worthington Steel by 44.5% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 68,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,338,000 after acquiring an additional 21,172 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Worthington Steel by 5.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 771,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,240,000 after purchasing an additional 41,925 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Worthington Steel during the 4th quarter valued at $649,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Worthington Steel by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 85,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,896,000 after purchasing an additional 26,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Worthington Steel Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Worthington Steel stock opened at $24.10 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 2.03. Worthington Steel, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.30 and a 52 week high of $47.19.

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. 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 firm had revenue of $687.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $732.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Worthington Steel, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Worthington Steel Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. 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.