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

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 231,700 shares, a decrease of 18.6% from the February 13th total of 284,700 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 94,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olympic Steel

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Olympic Steel during the 3rd quarter valued at $184,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Olympic Steel in the third quarter valued at about $202,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Olympic Steel during the fourth quarter valued at about $216,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Olympic Steel by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 7,517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.07% of the company’s stock.

Olympic Steel Stock Up 2.7 %

ZEUS opened at $33.12 on Thursday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.69. Olympic Steel has a 52 week low of $30.29 and a 52 week high of $73.27. The stock has a market cap of $368.82 million, a PE ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Olympic Steel Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.16 dividend. This is a boost 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 1.93%. Olympic Steel’s dividend payout ratio is 32.49%.

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.