Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Boosts Holdings in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,321 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Olympic Steel were worth $555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the third quarter valued at $2,816,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 29.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,896 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 2,468 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 21,741 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,450,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 19.6% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 162,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,133,000 after purchasing an additional 26,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 11.6% during the third quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 35,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. 87.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Olympic Steel from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ZEUS opened at $66.68 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $68.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.33. The company has a current ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $742.15 million, a P/E ratio of 17.32 and a beta of 1.64. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.85 and a twelve month high of $73.49.

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

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.58%.

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.