Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) Rating Increased to Buy at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $125.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on TPB. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Turning Point Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Turning Point Brands in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Turning Point Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Turning Point Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Turning Point Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.75.

Turning Point Brands Price Performance

TPB stock opened at $94.02 on Friday. Turning Point Brands has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $146.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $87.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 4.12 and a current ratio of 5.56. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 31.98 and a beta of 0.93.

Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.08. Turning Point Brands had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The firm had revenue of $124.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $115.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Turning Point Brands will post 2.66 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 19th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 18th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Turning Point Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.22%.

Insider Activity at Turning Point Brands

In other news, CFO Andrew Flynn sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.57, for a total transaction of $195,140.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,353.51. This represents a 17.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TPB. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Turning Point Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,454,000. Madison Avenue Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Turning Point Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,853,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Turning Point Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $20,788,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 72.4% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 494,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,578,000 after buying an additional 207,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 29,795.8% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 204,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,134,000 after buying an additional 203,505 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.12% of the company’s stock.

Turning Point Brands Company 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.