Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

LCUT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Lifetime Brands from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Lifetime Brands from $14.00 to $11.50 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Lifetime Brands Stock Up 0.9 %

LCUT stock traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $6.30. The company had a trading volume of 3,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,825. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.57. The company has a market capitalization of $139.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.37, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.27. Lifetime Brands has a 52 week low of $5.25 and a 52 week high of $11.68.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $183.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.90 million. Lifetime Brands had a positive return on equity of 3.13% and a negative net margin of 3.19%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lifetime Brands will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lifetime Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.043 per share. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Lifetime Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -17.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LCUT. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Lifetime Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $87,000. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in Lifetime Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $67,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Lifetime Brands by 579.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 13,173 shares of the company's stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 11,233 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Lifetime Brands by 657.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 18,096 shares of the company's stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 15,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lifetime Brands by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 19,016 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 5,302 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.62% of the company's stock.

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.