Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) Short Interest Up 108.3% in May

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LCUT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lifetime Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Lifetime Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Lifetime Brands from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Lifetime Brands in a research note on Monday, May 11th. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lifetime Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lifetime Brands

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JB Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Lifetime Brands by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. JB Capital Partners LP now owns 1,627,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,430,000 after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Lifetime Brands by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 913,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,535,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lifetime Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 243,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 8,820 shares during the last quarter. Truffle Hound Capital LLC grew its position in Lifetime Brands by 12.8% during 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, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Lifetime Brands by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 116,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 14,614 shares during the last quarter. 40.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lifetime Brands Stock Performance

Shares of LCUT stock opened at $8.55 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $6.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.93. Lifetime Brands has a one year low of $2.90 and a one year high of $9.80. The firm has a market cap of $195.37 million, a P/E ratio of -6.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Lifetime Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.0425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Lifetime Brands’s dividend 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.