Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) Short Interest Update

Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 150,065 shares, a growth of 23.7% from the March 31st total of 121,340 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 227,362 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on LCUT. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lifetime Brands to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Lifetime Brands from $3.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Lifetime Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of Lifetime Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lifetime Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.00.

Lifetime Brands Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ LCUT traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $6.71. 69,820 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 156,460. Lifetime Brands has a 52 week low of $2.89 and a 52 week high of $8.20. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.22. The company has a market cap of $153.32 million, a PE ratio of -5.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 2.85 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.87. The firm had revenue of $204.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.09 million. Lifetime Brands had a positive return on equity of 4.66% and a negative net margin of 4.16%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lifetime Brands will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Lifetime Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st will be issued a $0.0425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 1st. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Lifetime Brands’s payout ratio is currently -13.71%.

Institutional Trading of Lifetime Brands

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Lifetime Brands by 388.4% in the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 51,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 41,191 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Lifetime Brands by 0.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 913,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,535,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lifetime Brands by 3.8% during the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 243,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after acquiring an additional 8,820 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Lifetime Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $118,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 7.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 108,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 7,385 shares during the last quarter. 40.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lifetime Brands

Lifetime Brands, Inc, through its subsidiaries, designs, sources, manufactures and distributes a broad portfolio of consumer products for the home. Headquartered in Garden City, New York, the company operates three primary business segments—Kitchenware, Tabletop & Home Décor and Tools & Storage—providing solutions for food preparation, cooking, serving and storage under both proprietary and licensed brand names.

In the Kitchenware segment, Lifetime Brands offers cookware, bakeware, cutlery and small electric appliances under brands such as Farberware and Chef’sChoice.