Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 41,514 Shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lowered its position in shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 810,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 41,514 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 7.28% of Olympic Steel worth $26,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Olympic Steel by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 330,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,831,000 after buying an additional 24,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Olympic Steel by 136.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 214,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,365,000 after acquiring an additional 123,632 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Olympic Steel by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 122,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,012,000 after purchasing an additional 22,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 648.0% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 116,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,812,000 after purchasing an additional 100,650 shares during the period. 87.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ZEUS shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Olympic Steel from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday.

Olympic Steel Trading Down 2.9 %

ZEUS opened at $31.99 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.32 and a twelve month high of $56.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $357.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.88.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.03). Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. The firm had revenue of $492.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $466.80 million. Analysts predict that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.76%.

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.