First Trust Advisors LP Increases Position in Turning Point Brands, Inc. $TPB

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TPB) by 39.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 689,905 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 195,643 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 3.56% of Turning Point Brands worth $59,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TPB. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Turning Point Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Turning Point Brands during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Turning Point Brands in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Turning Point Brands in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp increased its stake in Turning Point Brands by 96.0% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. 96.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Turning Point Brands

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

Turning Point Brands Trading Up 4.4%

TPB stock opened at $76.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 4.05, a current ratio of 5.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.48. Turning Point Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $146.90.

Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $124.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $115.67 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Turning Point Brands, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Turning Point Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on TPB. Wall Street Zen upgraded Turning Point Brands from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Turning Point Brands in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Turning Point Brands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Turning Point Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Compass Point set a $103.00 target price on shares of Turning Point Brands in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Turning Point Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.50.

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.