Renaissance Technologies LLC Trims Stock Position in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Renaissance Technologies LLC cut its holdings in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) by 70.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 56,198 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.21% of Olympic Steel worth $761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Olympic Steel in the fourth quarter valued at about $216,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Olympic Steel by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 7,517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 16.0% in the 4th 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 period. 87.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ZEUS shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Olympic Steel from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Olympic Steel Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of ZEUS opened at $31.99 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 3.52. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.32 and a 1 year high of $64.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $357.10 million, a PE ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 1.50.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.05. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 3.31%. The firm had revenue of $418.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $441.60 million. Analysts forecast that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.16 dividend. This is a boost from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.49%.

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.