Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday morning.

Olympic Steel Price Performance

NASDAQ:ZEUS opened at $36.59 on Friday. Olympic Steel has a 1-year low of $34.81 and a 1-year high of $73.49. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $407.36 million, a PE ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 1.46.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 1.74% and a return on equity of 4.98%. The firm had revenue of $526.25 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share.

Olympic Steel Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Olympic Steel

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ZEUS. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Olympic Steel by 231.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 4,985 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 32.9% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 0.6% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 28,710 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 50,963 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,612,000 after acquiring an additional 3,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 3.3% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 6,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

About Olympic Steel

Olympic Steel, Inc processes, distributes, and stores metal products primarily in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It operates in three segments: Carbon Flat Products; Specialty Metals Flat Products; and Tubular and Pipe Products. The company offers stainless steel and aluminum coil and sheet products, angles, rounds, and flat bars; alloy, heat treated, and abrasion resistant coils, sheets and plates; coated metals, including galvanized, galvannealed, electro galvanized, advanced high strength steels, aluminized, and automotive grades of steel; commercial quality, advanced high strength steel, drawing steel, and automotive grades cold rolled steel coil and sheet products; hot rolled carbon comprising hot rolled coil, pickled and oiled sheet and plate steel products, automotive grades, advanced high strength steels, and high strength low alloys; tube, pipe, and bar products, including round, square, and rectangular mechanical and structural tubing; hydraulic and stainless tubing; boiler tubing; carbon, stainless, and aluminum pipes; valves and fittings; and tin mill products, such as electrolytic tinplate, electrolytic chromium coated steel, and black plates.