Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on TPB. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Turning Point Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Turning Point Brands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Turning Point Brands in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. Finally, Compass Point set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Turning Point Brands in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Turning Point Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.50.

Turning Point Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TPB opened at $76.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 4.05 and a current ratio of 5.87. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $84.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.95 and a beta of 0.92. Turning Point Brands has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $146.90.

Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Turning Point Brands will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Turning Point Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 19th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 18th. Turning Point Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Brian Wigginton sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.67, for a total transaction of $366,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $846,114.10. This represents a 30.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Turning Point Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TPB. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Turning Point Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Turning Point Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Turning Point Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of Turning Point Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. 96.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Turning Point Brands

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.