Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

LCUT has been the topic of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Lifetime Brands from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lifetime Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Lifetime Brands in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lifetime Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.00.

Lifetime Brands Stock Down 3.3%

LCUT opened at $7.61 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.93, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Lifetime Brands has a 1-year low of $2.90 and a 1-year high of $8.25. The company has a market capitalization of $173.89 million, a PE ratio of -5.99, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.49.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $143.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $137.58 million. Lifetime Brands had a negative net margin of 4.22% and a positive return on equity of 8.01%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lifetime Brands will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

Lifetime Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.0425 per share. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. Lifetime Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -13.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lifetime Brands

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LCUT. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Lifetime Brands by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 116,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,000 after buying an additional 14,614 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Lifetime Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $88,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Lifetime Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $118,000. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Lifetime Brands by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 108,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 7,385 shares in the last quarter. 40.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.