Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Buys 42,267 Shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Free Report) by 34.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,040 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 42,267 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 1.48% of Olympic Steel worth $5,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ZEUS. Barclays PLC raised its position in Olympic Steel by 275.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 15,532 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $606,000 after purchasing an additional 11,392 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 25,374 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $833,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,103 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 1,820 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 27,214 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $893,000 after buying an additional 1,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 60,805 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,995,000 after buying an additional 2,934 shares during the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Olympic Steel Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Olympic Steel stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 55,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 118,710. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.32 and a 52 week high of $54.92. The stock has a market cap of $357.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 1.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.59.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $492.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $466.80 million. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Olympic Steel's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on ZEUS shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Olympic Steel from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Olympic Steel from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th.

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.