Wealthstar Advisors LLC Has $553,000 Position in Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR)

Wealthstar Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) by 7.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,416 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vector Group were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Optimist Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vector Group in the 4th quarter worth about $949,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Vector Group by 95.7% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 534,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,686,000 after purchasing an additional 261,358 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vector Group by 14.0% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 822,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,747,000 after purchasing an additional 101,171 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Vector Group by 24.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,249,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,291,000 after acquiring an additional 243,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Vector Group by 27.9% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Vector Group Stock Performance

Shares of VGR traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $10.96. The company had a trading volume of 485,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,028,546. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 1.03. Vector Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $9.27 and a 52-week 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 the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Vector Group Ltd. will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vector Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.30%. 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.