Range Financial Group LLC Raises Holdings in Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR)

Range Financial Group LLC grew its position in Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) by 55.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,224 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,601 shares during the quarter. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Vector Group were worth $386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Vector Group in the 3rd quarter worth $68,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Vector Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $171,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Vector Group by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,249,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,291,000 after buying an additional 243,214 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Vector Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $150,000. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its position in Vector Group by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 35,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 5,261 shares in the last quarter. 64.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Vector Group Stock Performance

Shares of VGR stock opened at $11.00 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.06. Vector Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $9.27 and a fifty-two week high of $13.43.

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

Vector Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.28%. Vector Group’s payout ratio is 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.