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

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

Olympic Steel Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ ZEUS opened at $36.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $407.25 million, a P/E ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 3.77 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Olympic Steel has a 1 year low of $34.81 and a 1 year high of $73.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $38.75 and a 200 day moving average of $47.10.

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

Olympic Steel Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Olympic Steel by 1,020.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 59,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,306,000 after buying an additional 53,857 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 41.9% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 24,669 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 7,289 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 89.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 25,782 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 12,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unison Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the third quarter valued at approximately $729,000. 87.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.