Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Olympic Steel has been upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, indicating a positive outlook for the stock.
• KeyCorp has reduced its target price for Olympic Steel from $43.00 to $41.00, while still maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings miss with an EPS of $0.50, falling short of analyst estimates of $0.59.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Separately, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Olympic Steel from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

Olympic Steel stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $30.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 83,567. Olympic Steel has a 1-year low of $26.32 and a 1-year high of $44.01. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.51. The company has a market cap of $343.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17 and a beta of 1.72.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $506.60 million. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 1.95% and a net margin of 0.77%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Olympic Steel will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Olympic Steel's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olympic Steel

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Olympic Steel by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 610,747 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $19,251,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Olympic Steel by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 349,157 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,005,000 after acquiring an additional 19,044 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Olympic Steel by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 233,615 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,667,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in Olympic Steel by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. JB Capital Partners LP now owns 206,332 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,504,000 after acquiring an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Olympic Steel by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 185,808 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,096,000 after acquiring 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 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.