Worthington's (WOR) Board Okays Dividend Hike & Share Buyback
Worthington Industries, Inc. WOR yesterday announced rewards for its shareholders in the forms of an increase in the quarterly dividend payout rate and a share buyback program.
Notably, the increment marks the company’s 11th consecutive year of a dividend rate increase. We believe that such shareholder-friendly policies of the company reflect a strong cash position.
Inside the Headlines
As revealed, Worthington’s board of directors approved a hike of 12% or three cents per share in the quarterly dividend rate. The revised rate now stands at 28 cents per share. On an annualized basis, the dividend increased to $1.12 per share from the previous rate of $1.00.
Worthington will pay out the revised dividend on Jun 29, 2021, to shareholders of record as of Jun 15.
Regarding the share buyback program, the company’s board of directors gave a green signal to repurchase an extra 5.6 million common shares. Taking this program into account, the company’s buyback authorization totals 10 million shares.
Sound Shareholder-Friendly Policies
The company firmly believes in rewarding shareholders handsomely through dividend payments and share buybacks. Notably, its dividend payout amounted to 95 cents per share in fiscal 2020 (ended May 2020), higher than 83 cents in fiscal 2018 (ended May 2018). Moreover, the company repurchased shares worth $51 million in fiscal 2020. In the first nine months of fiscal 2021, the company paid dividends of $40 million and repurchased shares worth $145.3 million.
We believe that impressive financial performance in the quarters ahead will likely enable it to continue rewarding shareholders handsomely through dividend increments and share buybacks.
Zacks Rank, Earnings Estimate Trend and Price Performance
With a market capitalization of $3.4 billion, Worthington currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). In the past three months, the company’s shares have gained 25.8% compared with the industry’s growth of 10.7%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its earnings is pegged at $4.20 for fiscal 2021 (ending May 2021), reflecting an increase of 13.5% from the 60-day-ago figure. Likewise, the estimate for fiscal 2022 (ending May 2022) is pegged at $3.55, reflecting growth of 10.9% from the 60-day-ago number.
Worthington Industries, Inc. Price and Consensus
Worthington Industries, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Worthington Industries, Inc. Quote
Other Stocks to Consider
Three other top-ranked stocks in the Zacks Industrial Products sector are EnPro Industries, Inc. NPO, Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. AIT and Graco Inc. GGG. While EnPro Industries currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both Applied Industrial and Graco carry a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
In the past 60 days, earnings estimates for these stocks have improved for the current year. Further, earnings surprise for the last reported quarter was 143.14% for EnPro Industries, 28.95% for Applied Industrial and 19.61% for Graco.
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