Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Takes $981,000 Position in Turning Point Brands, Inc. $TPB

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TPB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 9,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $981,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 3,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 41,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,513,000 after buying an additional 3,851 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Turning Point Brands by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 847,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,820,000 after purchasing an additional 38,437 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.12% of the company’s stock.

Turning Point Brands Price Performance

Shares of TPB opened at $91.10 on Thursday. Turning Point Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $146.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $83.80 and its 200 day moving average is $101.62. The company has a quick ratio of 4.05, a current ratio of 5.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99 and a beta of 0.93.

Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.08. Turning Point Brands had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 11.53%.The company had revenue of $124.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.67 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Turning Point Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Turning Point Brands, Inc. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Turning Point Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 19th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 18th. Turning Point Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Brian Wigginton sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.67, for a total value of $366,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,230 shares in the company, valued at $846,114.10. This trade represents a 30.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Andrew Flynn sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.57, for a total value of $195,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,353.51. This represents a 17.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 5.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Turning Point Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Turning Point Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Turning Point Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Turning Point Brands from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.75.

Turning Point Brands Profile

Turning Point Brands, Inc (NYSE: TPB) is a U.S.-based consumer products company focused on the manufacture, marketing and distribution of smokeless tobacco, vaping and cigar products. Headquartered in Old Hickory, Tennessee, the company serves retail outlets across all 50 states through a direct-store-delivery network and select third-party distributors. Turning Point Brands operates two reporting segments—Smokeless Products and Cigar—and leverages its logistics capabilities to offer a broad portfolio of brands and SKUs.

In its Smokeless Products segment, Turning Point Brands produces moist smokeless tobacco under leading brand names such as Grizzly, Kodiak and Stoker’s.