Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Lifetime Brands from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Lifetime Brands from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday.

Lifetime Brands Stock Performance

Lifetime Brands stock opened at $6.15 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Lifetime Brands has a 12-month low of $4.96 and a 12-month high of $11.68.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.01). Lifetime Brands had a positive return on equity of 4.51% and a negative net margin of 2.58%. The company had revenue of $141.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.02) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lifetime Brands will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lifetime Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.043 per share. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Lifetime Brands’s payout ratio is -62.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Lifetime Brands in the first quarter valued at about $726,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lifetime Brands by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 318,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,737,000 after acquiring an additional 54,142 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Lifetime Brands by 28.5% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 20,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 4,575 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Lifetime Brands by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 151,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,299,000 after acquiring an additional 28,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 88.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 161,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 75,475 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.