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

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

Separately, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Olympic Steel from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Olympic Steel Stock Down 4.1 %

Olympic Steel stock traded down $1.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.25. The stock had a trading volume of 112,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 113,754. Olympic Steel has a 12 month low of $30.29 and a 12 month high of $73.27. The company has a market capitalization of $348 million, a P/E ratio of 15.86 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $418.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $441.60 million. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Olympic Steel will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Olympic Steel's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Olympic Steel's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olympic Steel

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ZEUS. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 1,165.8% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 202,163 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,884,000 after acquiring an additional 186,192 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 136.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 214,493 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $8,365,000 after acquiring an additional 123,632 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,978,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 648.0% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 116,182 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,812,000 after acquiring an additional 100,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,035,000. 87.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.