Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

Shares of Olympic Steel stock opened at $38.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 3.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $432.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.36 and a beta of 1.48. Olympic Steel has a 52 week low of $34.81 and a 52 week high of $73.49.

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

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Olympic Steel’s payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olympic Steel

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ZEUS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Olympic Steel by 1.8% during the 1st 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. lifted its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 279,940 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,550,000 after purchasing an additional 27,123 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 141,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,358,000 after purchasing an additional 25,201 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Olympic Steel by 62.0% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Olympic Steel by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 76,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,422,000 after buying an additional 3,756 shares during the period. 87.07% of the stock is owned by 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.