Empowered Funds LLC Takes $1.14 Million Position in Lifetime Brands, Inc. $LCUT

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Lifetime Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCUT) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 133,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JB Capital Partners LP increased its position in Lifetime Brands by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. JB Capital Partners LP now owns 1,627,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,430,000 after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lifetime Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,092,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lifetime Brands by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 913,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,535,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the period. Martin & Co. Inc. TN purchased a new position in shares of Lifetime Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,799,000. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Lifetime Brands by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 243,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 8,820 shares during the last quarter. 40.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on LCUT shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lifetime Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Zacks Research raised Lifetime Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective on shares of Lifetime Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lifetime Brands in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Lifetime Brands from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lifetime Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.50.

Insider Transactions at Lifetime Brands

In other Lifetime Brands news, Director Jeffrey Siegel sold 11,560 shares of Lifetime Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total transaction of $110,166.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,166,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,115,191.61. The trade was a 0.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,683 shares of company stock valued at $206,435. Company insiders own 44.40% of the company’s stock.

Lifetime Brands Stock Performance

Lifetime Brands stock opened at $8.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 2.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.27. The company has a market capitalization of $203.92 million, a PE ratio of 6.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.98. Lifetime Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2.90 and a fifty-two week high of $10.17.

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $141.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $136.64 million. Lifetime Brands had a return on equity of 26.39% and a net margin of 4.81%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lifetime Brands, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Lifetime Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.0425 per share. This represents a $0.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. Lifetime Brands’s payout ratio is presently 11.89%.

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.