Royce & Associates LP Lowers Stock Position in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its stake in shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) by 36.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 17,975 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Olympic Steel were worth $1,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter worth about $184,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel during the third quarter worth $202,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Olympic Steel by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 7,517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter valued at about $302,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Olympic Steel by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,820 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Olympic Steel Price Performance

ZEUS stock opened at $31.84 on Friday. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.29 and a 52-week high of $73.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.61. The stock has a market cap of $354.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $418.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $441.60 million. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 3.31%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio is 32.49%.

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.