Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Buys 17,652 Shares of Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in shares of Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) by 15.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 133,266 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,652 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned 0.08% of Vector Group worth $1,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VGR. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vector Group by 252.3% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 6,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 4,325 shares during the last quarter. Somerset Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Vector Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $110,000. SpiderRock Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vector Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $112,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vector Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $116,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Vector Group by 87.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 11,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 5,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vector Group in a report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on Vector Group from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th.

Vector Group Price Performance

Vector Group stock opened at $14.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 1.04. Vector Group Ltd. has a one year low of $9.27 and a one year high of $15.53. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.72.

Vector Group (NYSE:VGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.04. Vector Group had a negative return on equity of 26.96% and a net margin of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $371.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.90 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Vector Group Ltd. will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vector Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.35%. Vector Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.97%.

About Vector Group

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.