Short Interest in Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) Grows By 108.3%

Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 318,466 shares, a growth of 108.3% from the April 30th total of 152,921 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 139,587 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Lifetime Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 purchasing an additional 7,385 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Lifetime Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $88,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lifetime Brands by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 908,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,634,000 after purchasing an additional 130,650 shares during the last quarter. Truffle Hound Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Lifetime Brands by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Truffle Hound Capital LLC now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 22,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Lifetime Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. 40.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LCUT. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Lifetime Brands from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lifetime Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lifetime Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of Lifetime Brands in a report on Monday, May 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.00.

Lifetime Brands Stock Performance

LCUT stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.16. The company had a trading volume of 218,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 166,873. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.31 million, a P/E ratio of -7.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99. Lifetime Brands has a one year low of $2.90 and a one year high of $9.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.84.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.22. The company had revenue of $143.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $137.58 million. Lifetime Brands had a positive return on equity of 8.01% and a negative net margin of 4.22%. Research analysts anticipate that Lifetime Brands will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

Lifetime Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st were given a dividend of $0.0425 per share. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. Lifetime Brands’s payout ratio is -13.39%.

Lifetime Brands Company Profile

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.