Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Wednesday.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

Shares of ZEUS stock opened at $37.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $416.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.29 and its 200 day moving average is $54.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 3.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Olympic Steel has a 52-week low of $36.50 and a 52-week high of $73.49.

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

Olympic Steel Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Olympic Steel

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 681,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,306,000 after buying an additional 12,242 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 10.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 279,940 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,550,000 after purchasing an additional 27,123 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 21.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 141,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,358,000 after purchasing an additional 25,201 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 62.0% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 98,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,429,000 after purchasing an additional 37,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 5.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 76,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,422,000 after purchasing an additional 3,756 shares during the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Olympic Steel Company Profile

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.