Wall Street Zen Downgrades Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) to Hold

Key Points

• Olympic Steel has been downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating.
• KeyCorp has reduced its price target for the stock from $40.00 to $38.00 while maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• The company's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.50, missing expectations, with revenue also falling short at $496.48 million.

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday morning.

Separately, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Olympic Steel from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th.

Olympic Steel Stock Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:ZEUS traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.03. 47,066 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 74,709. Olympic Steel has a one year low of $26.32 and a one year high of $43.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 3.07 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $32.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.40. The company has a market cap of $347.54 million, a PE ratio of 25.43 and a beta of 1.72.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.09). Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 1.95% and a net margin of 0.77%. The business had revenue of $496.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $506.60 million. Equities analysts predict that Olympic Steel will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Olympic Steel Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Olympic Steel's payout ratio is 52.46%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Olympic Steel by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 610,747 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $19,251,000 after buying an additional 2,503 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Olympic Steel by 5.8% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 349,157 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,005,000 after buying an additional 19,044 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Olympic Steel by 0.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 241,068 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,858,000 after buying an additional 1,952 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in Olympic Steel by 13.1% in the first quarter. JB Capital Partners LP now owns 206,332 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,504,000 after buying an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 185,808 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934 shares during the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.