Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

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 released on Sunday morning.

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

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

Shares of Olympic Steel stock traded down $1.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.34. 10,286 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 82,479. Olympic Steel has a 1 year low of $26.32 and a 1 year high of $43.60. The company has a current ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $32.42 and a 200-day moving average of $32.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $362.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50 and a beta of 1.72.

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

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Olympic Steel's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Olympic Steel

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ZEUS. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 71,560 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 18,020 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 233,615 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,667,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 9,090 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Olympic Steel by 648.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 116,182 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,812,000 after buying an additional 100,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in Olympic Steel by 909.2% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 10,203 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 9,192 shares during the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.