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Worthington's (WOR) Board Approves 4.2% Hike in Dividend Rate

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Worthington Industries, Inc. (WOR - Free Report) yesterday announced a reward for its shareholders in the form of an increase in the quarterly dividend payout rate. The increment marks its 10th 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, the board of directors of Worthington approved a hike of 4.2% or one cent per share in the quarterly dividend rate. The revised rate now stands at 25 cents per share. On an annualized basis, the dividend increased to $1.00 per share from the previous rate of 96 cents.

Worthington will pay out the revised dividend on Sep 29, 2020, to shareholders of record as of Sep 15.

Sound Shareholder-Friendly Policies

The company firmly believes in rewarding shareholders handsomely through dividend payments and share buybacks. Its dividend payout amounted to 92 cents per share in fiscal 2019 (ended May 2019), higher than 80 cents in fiscal 2017 (ended May 2017). Moreover, the company repurchased shares worth $168.1 million in fiscal 2019.

We believe that impressive financial performance in the quarters ahead will likely enable it to continue rewarding shareholders handsomely through dividend increments.

Zacks Rank, Earnings Estimate Trend and Price Performance

With a market capitalization of $2 billion, Worthington currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the past three months, the company’s shares have gained 36.8% compared with the industry’s growth of 19%.




 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its earnings is pegged at $2.32 for fiscal 2021 (ending May 2021, reflecting a decline of 1.3% from the 60-day ago figure.

Worthington Industries, Inc. Price and Consensus

 

Worthington Industries, Inc. Price and Consensus

Worthington Industries, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Worthington Industries, Inc. Quote

Stocks to Consider

Three better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Industrial Products sector are Altra Industrial Motion Corp. , Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (AIT - Free Report) and ParkerHannifin Corporation (PH - Free Report) . While both Altra Industrial and Applied Industrial sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), ParkerHannifin carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). 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, positive earnings surprise for the last reported quarter was 47.73% for Altra Industrial, 2.00% for Applied Industrial and 29.20% for ParkerHannifin.

5 Stocks Set to Double

Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.

Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

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