Prudential Financial Inc. Increases Position in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) by 27.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 99,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,403 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Olympic Steel were worth $3,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 1,165.8% during the 3rd 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Olympic Steel by 423.4% during the third 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 period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 330,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,831,000 after purchasing an additional 24,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 23.1% in the fourth 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 period. 87.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ZEUS opened at $31.66 on Thursday. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.29 and a twelve month high of $73.27. The company has a market cap of $352.57 million, a P/E ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.32.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.05. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. The business had revenue of $418.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $441.60 million. On average, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZEUS has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Olympic Steel from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th.

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.