Strs Ohio Reduces Stock Holdings in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Strs Ohio lowered its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Olympic Steel were worth $707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter valued at $219,000. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter valued at $247,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut Olympic Steel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 2nd.

Olympic Steel Price Performance

Shares of ZEUS stock opened at $67.55 on Friday. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.85 and a twelve month high of $73.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $751.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.29. The company has a current ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $489.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.10 million. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 7.30% and a net margin of 2.06%. On average, analysts predict that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a positive change from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Olympic Steel’s payout ratio is presently 15.58%.

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.