Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 368,000 shares, an increase of 124.9% from the September 30th total of 163,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 180,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday.

Olympic Steel Price Performance

NASDAQ ZEUS opened at $36.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 3.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $407.25 million, a PE ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.46. Olympic Steel has a 52 week low of $34.81 and a 52 week high of $73.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.93.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Olympic Steel had a net margin of 1.74% and a return on equity of 4.98%. The company had revenue of $526.25 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share.

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.29%.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the first quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the second quarter valued at approximately $58,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Olympic Steel during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Olympic Steel by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 6,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. 87.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.