Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 67,600 shares, a growth of 9.0% from the March 15th total of 62,000 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 80,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Lifetime Brands Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of LCUT opened at $9.52 on Wednesday. Lifetime Brands has a 12 month low of $4.31 and a 12 month high of $11.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.81 and its 200-day moving average is $7.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.03). Lifetime Brands had a positive return on equity of 4.84% and a negative net margin of 1.23%. The business had revenue of $203.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.48 million. On average, analysts expect that Lifetime Brands will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

Lifetime Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.043 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Lifetime Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently -43.59%.

Institutional Trading of Lifetime Brands

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,350,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,252,000 after purchasing an additional 6,574 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 1.9% during the third quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 717,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 13,233 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 633,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,136,000 after purchasing an additional 5,192 shares during the last quarter. Teton Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 2.0% during the first quarter. Teton Advisors Inc. now owns 256,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,289,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 132.3% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 233,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 133,268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LCUT shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Lifetime Brands from $8.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Lifetime Brands from $9.50 to $11.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Lifetime Brands from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th.

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.