Norges Bank Takes $3.04 Million Position in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 92,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,035,000. Norges Bank owned 0.83% of Olympic Steel as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 136.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 214,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,365,000 after purchasing an additional 123,632 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Olympic Steel by 275.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 15,532 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 11,392 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the third quarter worth about $202,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 99,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,262,000 after acquiring an additional 21,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $493,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

Olympic Steel Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of ZEUS opened at $29.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 3.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $330.87 million, a PE ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.82. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.32 and a 1 year high of $70.51.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $418.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $441.60 million. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 3.31%. 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. This is a boost from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Olympic Steel’s payout ratio is presently 32.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.