Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 2,220 Shares of Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its holdings in shares of Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,327 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,220 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Vector Group were worth $247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vector Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $949,000. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Vector Group in the first quarter valued at about $900,000. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vector Group in the first quarter valued at about $527,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vector Group by 6.4% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,181,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,946,000 after acquiring an additional 70,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vector Group by 27.9% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 130,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after acquiring an additional 28,476 shares during the last quarter. 64.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vector Group Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE VGR opened at $14.92 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.86. The company has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 1.04. Vector Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $9.27 and a twelve month high of $15.53.

Vector Group (NYSE:VGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $371.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.90 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vector Group Ltd. will post 1.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vector Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Vector Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.