Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TPB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TPB) has been given an average rating of “Buy” by the seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $78.8333.

A number of brokerages have commented on TPB. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on Turning Point Brands in a report on Friday, August 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Turning Point Brands from $85.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Turning Point Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Graham Purdy sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.03, for a total value of $2,250,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,066,773.98. This represents a 11.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lawrence Wexler sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.94, for a total value of $1,898,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 330,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,074,324.84. The trade was a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,291,282 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Turning Point Brands by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 509,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,629,000 after purchasing an additional 7,104 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Turning Point Brands by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 243,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,646,000 after buying an additional 2,667 shares in the last quarter. Northern Right Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Turning Point Brands by 63.9% in the first quarter. Northern Right Capital Management L.P. now owns 220,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,087,000 after buying an additional 85,824 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Turning Point Brands by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 189,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,364,000 after buying an additional 33,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Turning Point Brands by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 160,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,639,000 after buying an additional 11,808 shares in the last quarter. 96.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Turning Point Brands Stock Performance

NYSE TPB opened at $97.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.88 and a beta of 0.66. Turning Point Brands has a twelve month low of $36.35 and a twelve month high of $99.49. The company has a current ratio of 4.42, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $77.71 and a 200 day moving average of $68.89.

Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.19. Turning Point Brands had a return on equity of 26.34% and a net margin of 10.34%. The company had revenue of $116.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Turning Point Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 25.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Turning Point Brands will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Turning Point Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th will be given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 19th. Turning Point Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.55%.

About Turning Point Brands

Turning Point Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes branded consumer products. The company operates through three segments: Zig-Zag Products, Stoker’s Products, and Creative Distribution Solutions. Zig-Zag Products segment markets and distributes rolling papers, tubes, finished cigars, make-your-own cigar wraps, and related products, as well as lighters and other accessories under the Zig-Zag brand.