Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Trading Down 7.3%

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)’s share price fell 7.3% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $58.29 and last traded at $59.02. 21,543 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 77,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Olympic Steel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 2nd.

Olympic Steel Trading Down 9.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 3.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $640.53 million, a P/E ratio of 15.17 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.80.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.12. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 2.06% and a return on equity of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $489.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.10 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This is an increase from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Olympic Steel’s payout ratio is presently 15.58%.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ZEUS. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Olympic Steel by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 723,902 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,284,000 after purchasing an additional 203,796 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Olympic Steel by 4.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 370,966 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,852,000 after buying an additional 15,803 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Olympic Steel by 19.6% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 162,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,133,000 after buying an additional 26,577 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Olympic Steel by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 109,828 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,173,000 after acquiring an additional 2,041 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Olympic Steel by 15.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 70,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,010,000 after acquiring an additional 9,336 shares during the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.