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

Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 269,200 shares, a decline of 21.8% from the March 15th total of 344,300 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 52,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Lifetime Brands from $6.75 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised Lifetime Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th.

Lifetime Brands Price Performance

LCUT stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $3.79. 55,838 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 66,953. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $4.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.55. Lifetime Brands has a 12 month low of $3.54 and a 12 month high of $11.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.83, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.38.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $215.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $206.60 million. Lifetime Brands had a negative net margin of 3.19% and a positive return on equity of 3.13%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lifetime Brands will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Lifetime Brands Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0425 per share. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. Lifetime Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently -23.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lifetime Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lifetime Brands during the third quarter valued at about $67,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lifetime Brands by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 294,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11,118 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Lifetime Brands by 38.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 19,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 5,302 shares during the period. Martin & Co. Inc. TN boosted its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Martin & Co. Inc. TN now owns 331,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,962,000 after acquiring an additional 96,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Lifetime Brands by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 101,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $597,000 after purchasing an additional 4,980 shares during the period. 40.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lifetime Brands

Lifetime Brands, Inc designs, sources, and sells branded kitchenware, tableware, and other products for use in the home in the worldwide. The company provides kitchenware products, including kitchen tools and gadgets, cutlery, kitchen scales, thermometers, cutting boards, shears, cookware, pantryware, spice racks, and bakeware; and tableware products comprising dinnerware, stemware, flatware, and giftware.