Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) Short Interest Up 232.0% in July

Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 297,100 shares, a growth of 232.0% from the June 30th total of 89,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 96,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Lifetime Brands from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Lifetime Brands from $11.50 to $13.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th.

Lifetime Brands Stock Performance

LCUT traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $9.02. The company had a trading volume of 37,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 86,231. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock has a market cap of $199.07 million, a PE ratio of -33.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.29. Lifetime Brands has a 12-month low of $4.86 and a 12-month high of $11.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $9.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.34.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $142.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.74 million. Lifetime Brands had a negative net margin of 0.86% and a positive return on equity of 4.63%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lifetime Brands will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lifetime Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.043 per share. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. Lifetime Brands’s payout ratio is currently -62.96%.

Institutional Trading of Lifetime Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lifetime Brands by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 264,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,773,000 after buying an additional 30,845 shares in the last quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Lifetime Brands by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 203,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,133,000 after purchasing an additional 3,129 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in Lifetime Brands by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 180,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 31,153 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Lifetime Brands by 22.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 151,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 28,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Lifetime Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $726,000. 40.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.