Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.16

Key Points

• Olympic Steel, Inc. has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share, with an ex-dividend date of September 2nd and a payment date set for September 15th.
• The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50 for the last quarter, which fell short of analyst expectations by $0.09.
• Olympic Steel's dividend payout ratio stands at 22.8%, indicating that the dividend is well-supported by the company's earnings.

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 31st, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, September 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd.

Olympic Steel has a payout ratio of 22.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

ZEUS stock traded down $0.33 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.13. The company had a trading volume of 23,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 83,547. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.52. The company has a market cap of $336.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 3.07. Olympic Steel has a twelve month low of $26.32 and a twelve month high of $44.01.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $496.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $506.60 million. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 0.77% and a return on equity of 1.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Olympic Steel will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ZEUS. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,637,000. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Olympic Steel during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,082,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in Olympic Steel by 648.0% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 116,182 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,812,000 after purchasing an additional 100,650 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,035,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 690.2% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 78,896 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,487,000 after purchasing an additional 68,912 shares during the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Olympic Steel Company 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.