Trexquant Investment LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Trexquant Investment LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,963 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,862 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.44% of Olympic Steel worth $1,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ZEUS. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 423.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 44,496 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,735,000 after acquiring an additional 35,995 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 103.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 22,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $861,000 after acquiring an additional 11,224 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel during the third quarter valued at approximately $632,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel during the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in 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 worth $7,884,000 after buying an additional 186,192 shares during the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ZEUS opened at $30.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.88. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.32 and a 1 year high of $70.51. The company has a market capitalization of $342.15 million, a P/E ratio of 15.56 and a beta of 1.50.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. The firm had revenue of $418.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $441.60 million. On average, analysts expect that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.16 dividend. This is a positive change from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on ZEUS shares. KeyCorp raised their target price on Olympic Steel from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st.

Olympic Steel 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.