Magnetar Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 6,595 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Olympic Steel by 63.4% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 25,174 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $826,000 after buying an additional 9,763 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the fourth quarter worth about $493,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 7,517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position 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 worth $4,012,000 after purchasing an additional 22,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Olympic Steel by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,080 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

Olympic Steel Stock Down 4.2 %

NASDAQ:ZEUS opened at $31.84 on Monday. Olympic Steel, Inc. has a one year low of $30.29 and a one year high of $73.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $354.57 million, a PE ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.60.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $418.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $441.60 million. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 3.31%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Olympic Steel, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ZEUS shares. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Olympic Steel from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com lowered Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st.

Olympic Steel Company 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.