Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage of Turning Point Brands with a "hold" rating, while Oppenheimer raised their price objective significantly from $65.00 to $85.00, giving an "outperform" rating.
• Turning Point Brands reported $0.91 EPS for its latest quarter, surpassing estimates and showing a 28.2% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.
• Insider selling activity was noted, with SVP Brittani Cushman selling 7,500 shares and Director Lawrence Wexler selling 25,000 shares, indicating recent profit-taking by executives.

Needham & Company LLC started coverage on shares of Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB - Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a "hold" rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on TPB. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Turning Point Brands from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Turning Point Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $76.67.

Turning Point Brands Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE TPB traded down $1.17 on Friday, reaching $80.62. The company had a trading volume of 383,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,456. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36 and a beta of 0.66. Turning Point Brands has a fifty-two week low of $34.78 and a fifty-two week high of $84.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $75.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 4.42 and a quick ratio of 2.64.

Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $106.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.75 million. Turning Point Brands had a return on equity of 27.70% and a net margin of 10.19%. Turning Point Brands's quarterly revenue was up 28.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Turning Point Brands will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gregory H.A. Baxter sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.64, for a total transaction of $110,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 40,419 shares in the company, valued at $2,976,455.16. The trade was a 3.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Graham Purdy sold 30,000 shares of Turning Point Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.03, for a total transaction of $2,250,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,066,773.98. This represents a 11.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 115,300 shares of company stock worth $8,666,867 in the last three months. Insiders own 6.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Turning Point Brands

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TPB. Northern Right Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Turning Point Brands by 356.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Right Capital Management L.P. now owns 134,354 shares of the company's stock worth $8,075,000 after purchasing an additional 104,931 shares during the last quarter. 4D Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Turning Point Brands during the first quarter valued at about $5,647,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 318,552 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,145,000 after acquiring an additional 84,552 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Turning Point Brands during the second quarter valued at about $6,325,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 122.3% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 121,804 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,240,000 after acquiring an additional 67,005 shares during the last quarter. 96.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.