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

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) saw a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 163,600 shares, a decrease of 72.6% from the September 15th total of 598,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 177,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Olympic Steel Price Performance

Shares of Olympic Steel stock opened at $39.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $435.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 3.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.55. Olympic Steel has a one year low of $34.81 and a one year high of $73.49.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share.

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.29%.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 21.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 141,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,358,000 after buying an additional 25,201 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Olympic Steel by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 681,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,306,000 after acquiring an additional 12,242 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Olympic Steel by 62.0% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 98,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,429,000 after purchasing an additional 37,798 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel during the first quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 5.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 76,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,422,000 after purchasing an additional 3,756 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Olympic Steel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 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.