Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

LCUT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Roth Mkm began coverage on shares of Lifetime Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lifetime Brands in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Lifetime Brands from $3.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lifetime Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.00.

Lifetime Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LCUT opened at $6.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 2.85. The firm has a market cap of $157.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.02. Lifetime Brands has a 52 week low of $2.89 and a 52 week high of $8.20.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.87. The business had revenue of $204.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.09 million. Lifetime Brands had a positive return on equity of 4.66% and a negative net margin of 4.16%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lifetime Brands will post 0.55 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 Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st will be given a $0.0425 dividend. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 1st. Lifetime Brands’s payout ratio is currently -13.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lifetime Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LCUT. Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lifetime Brands in the third quarter worth $41,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in Lifetime Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $88,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Lifetime Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $118,000. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Lifetime Brands by 388.4% in the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 51,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 41,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teton Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lifetime Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $381,000. 40.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Lifetime Brands

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.