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

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday.

TPB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $110.00 price target on Turning Point Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Alliance Global Partners increased their price objective on Turning Point Brands from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Turning Point Brands in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Turning Point Brands in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Turning Point Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Turning Point Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.67.

Turning Point Brands Stock Performance

Shares of TPB stock opened at $119.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 5.56 and a quick ratio of 3.98. The business has a fifty day moving average of $104.63 and a 200 day moving average of $95.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.91 and a beta of 0.86. Turning Point Brands has a 1 year low of $51.48 and a 1 year high of $119.25.

Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $118.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.42 million. Turning Point Brands had a net margin of 12.02% and a return on equity of 24.44%. Turning Point Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Turning Point Brands will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Turning Point Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Friday, December 19th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 19th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Turning Point Brands’s payout ratio is presently 10.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Turning Point Brands

In related news, Director H.C. Charles Diao sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.20, for a total value of $216,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,060,792.80. This represents a 16.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Usher sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.00, for a total transaction of $101,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $522,675. The trade was a 16.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 96,220 shares of company stock worth $9,958,542. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Turning Point Brands

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TPB. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 90.7% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 328 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in Turning Point Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Turning Point Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of Turning Point Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Turning Point Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.12% of the company’s stock.

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.