Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Short Interest Down 24.9% in February

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 284,700 shares, a decrease of 24.9% from the January 31st total of 379,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 89,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

Olympic Steel stock opened at $31.25 on Wednesday. Olympic Steel has a fifty-two week low of $30.29 and a fifty-two week high of $73.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.39. The stock has a market cap of $348 million, a P/E ratio of 15.86 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 3.52.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.05. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. The business had revenue of $418.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $441.60 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Olympic Steel will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.16 dividend. This is an increase from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Olympic Steel’s payout ratio is presently 32.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ZEUS. StockNews.com downgraded Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. 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 note on Monday, February 24th.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Olympic Steel during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Olympic Steel during the third quarter valued at about $184,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the third quarter worth about $202,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel in the 4th quarter valued at about $216,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Olympic Steel by 11.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 770 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

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.