Short Interest in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Increases By 124.9%

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in 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. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 180,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Olympic Steel from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday.

Olympic Steel Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ZEUS traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $36.59. The company had a trading volume of 65,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 116,054. The firm has a market capitalization of $407.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.46. Olympic Steel has a twelve month low of $34.81 and a twelve month high of $73.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 3.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share.

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Olympic Steel during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $58,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the 1st quarter valued at $61,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Olympic Steel in the second quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $245,000. 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.