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

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 287,400 shares, a growth of 24.0% from the February 28th total of 231,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 95,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Olympic Steel Stock Performance

ZEUS stock opened at $31.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Olympic Steel has a 1 year low of $30.29 and a 1 year high of $73.27. The company has a market cap of $352.57 million, a P/E ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.32.

Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $418.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $441.60 million. Olympic Steel had a return on equity of 3.31% and a net margin of 1.18%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Olympic Steel will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.16 dividend. This is an increase from Olympic Steel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Olympic Steel from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Olympic Steel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st.

Institutional Trading of Olympic Steel

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 1,165.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 202,163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,884,000 after acquiring an additional 186,192 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Olympic Steel by 136.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 214,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,365,000 after purchasing an additional 123,632 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Olympic Steel during the third quarter valued at $3,978,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Olympic Steel by 648.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 116,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,812,000 after purchasing an additional 100,650 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Olympic Steel in the fourth quarter worth about $3,035,000. 87.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.