Zacks Research Downgrades Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) to Hold

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

LCUT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Lifetime Brands from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Lifetime Brands in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lifetime Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lifetime Brands in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.00.

Lifetime Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LCUT traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $8.28. The stock had a trading volume of 119,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 294,049. The firm has a market cap of $189.20 million, a PE ratio of -6.52, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.80. Lifetime Brands has a twelve month low of $2.90 and a twelve month high of $9.80.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.22. Lifetime Brands had a positive return on equity of 8.01% and a negative net margin of 4.22%.The business had revenue of $143.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $137.58 million. Research analysts predict that Lifetime Brands will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Lifetime Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LCUT. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in Lifetime Brands in the second quarter valued at $88,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Lifetime Brands by 39.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 5,809 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Lifetime Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $118,000. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Lifetime Brands by 388.4% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 51,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 41,191 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Lifetime Brands by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 108,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 7,385 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.62% of the company’s stock.

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.