Prudential Financial Inc. Raises Holdings in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) by 27.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,403 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.89% of Olympic Steel worth $3,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ZEUS. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 1,165.8% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 202,163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,884,000 after buying an additional 186,192 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Olympic Steel by 136.1% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Olympic Steel by 423.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 44,496 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,735,000 after acquiring an additional 35,995 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 24,538 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Olympic Steel by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 122,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,012,000 after purchasing an additional 22,908 shares during the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Olympic Steel Price Performance

Shares of ZEUS opened at $31.66 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $33.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.32. The company has a market capitalization of $352.57 million, a P/E ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 1.48. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.29 and a fifty-two week high of $73.27. 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 (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.05. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. The firm had revenue of $418.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $441.60 million. Research analysts predict that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 2.02%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Olympic Steel’s payout ratio is currently 32.49%.

Olympic Steel 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.