Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Purchases Shares of 8,800 Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TPB)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TPB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $529,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Turning Point Brands by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,524,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,631,000 after purchasing an additional 18,440 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Turning Point Brands by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 318,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,145,000 after purchasing an additional 84,552 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Turning Point Brands by 1.1% during 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Turning Point Brands by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 203,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,243,000 after buying an additional 58,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $11,364,000 after buying an additional 33,080 shares during the period. 96.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Brian Wigginton sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.75, for a total transaction of $265,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $770,453.25. The trade was a 25.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gregory H.A. Baxter sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.64, for a total value of $110,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,976,455.16. This represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TPB. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Turning Point Brands from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $85.00 price objective on Turning Point Brands in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Alliance Global Partners assumed coverage on shares of Turning Point Brands in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Turning Point Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.67.

Turning Point Brands Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:TPB opened at $73.44 on Monday. Turning Point Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.61 and a 52 week high of $81.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

Turning Point Brands (NYSE:TPB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.16. Turning Point Brands had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 33.14%. The business had revenue of $106.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $95.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Turning Point Brands, Inc. will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Turning Point Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Turning Point Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Turning Point Brands Company Profile

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.