Short Interest in Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Drops By 24.9%

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 284,700 shares, a decline of 24.9% from the January 31st total of 379,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 89,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Olympic Steel Price Performance

Shares of ZEUS traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $31.99. 14,321 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 113,228. The stock has a market capitalization of $356.21 million, a PE ratio of 16.29 and a beta of 1.52. Olympic Steel has a fifty-two week low of $30.29 and a fifty-two week high of $73.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.29.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.05. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. The company had revenue of $418.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $441.60 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Olympic Steel will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is an increase from Olympic Steel's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Olympic Steel's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ZEUS. StockNews.com lowered Olympic Steel from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Olympic Steel from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Olympic Steel by 2.0% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 30,120 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Olympic Steel by 75.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 9,187 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 6,747 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Olympic Steel by 127.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,989 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $507,000 after acquiring an additional 7,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in Olympic Steel by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 49,196 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,919,000 after purchasing an additional 7,253 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.