Royal Fund Management LLC Acquires 4,701 Shares of Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR)

Royal Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) by 6.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 73,002 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,701 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Vector Group were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VGR. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vector Group by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 36,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $407,000 after purchasing an additional 2,297 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Vector Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,585,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,366,000 after acquiring an additional 74,550 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Vector Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $949,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Vector Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP lifted its position in Vector Group by 182.3% during the fourth quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 39,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 25,677 shares during the last quarter. 64.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Vector Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th.

Vector Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE VGR traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $11.09. The company had a trading volume of 258,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,204,658. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.81. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 1.06. Vector Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $9.27 and a 1 year high of $13.43.

Vector Group (NYSE:VGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $324.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $333.30 million. Vector Group had a negative return on equity of 25.89% and a net margin of 12.98%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. Analysts predict that Vector Group Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Vector Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.21%. Vector Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

Vector Group Profile

Vector Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. It operates in two segments, Tobacco and Real Estate. The company produces cigarettes under the Montego, EAGLE 20's, Pyramid, Grand Prix, Liggett Select, Eve, and USA brand names, as well as various partner and private label brands.