Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) Short Interest Up 124.9% in October

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) saw 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 trading volume of 180,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Olympic Steel during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $58,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Olympic Steel in the 1st quarter worth approximately $61,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Olympic Steel in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Olympic Steel during the third quarter worth $245,000. 87.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday.

Olympic Steel Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Olympic Steel stock opened at $36.59 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $407.36 million, a P/E ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 3.77. 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 results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm 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 prior year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share.

Olympic Steel Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

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.