Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Stock Price Down 7.3%

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $640.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 3.35.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $489.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.10 million. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 6.43%. Equities research analysts predict that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olympic Steel Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Olympic Steel’s payout ratio is 16.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Olympic Steel

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Olympic Steel by 0.6% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 28,710 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Olympic Steel by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 231.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 4,985 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Olympic Steel during the first quarter worth about $207,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 8.5% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 23,581 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

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.