Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) saw a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,830,000 shares, a drop of 17.0% from the March 15th total of 3,410,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Vector Group Stock Performance

Shares of VGR stock opened at $9.85 on Friday. Vector Group has a one year low of $9.80 and a one year high of $13.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.77 and its 200 day moving average is $10.82. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 1.02.

Vector Group (NYSE:VGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $360.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $357.60 million. Vector Group had a net margin of 12.89% and a negative return on equity of 24.93%. As a group, research analysts predict that Vector Group will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vector Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Vector Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Institutional Trading of Vector Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vector Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,667,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,225,000 after acquiring an additional 262,368 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vector Group by 0.4% during the 4th 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. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vector Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,364,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,444,000 after acquiring an additional 321,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Vector Group by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,794,954 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,423,000 after acquiring an additional 90,976 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Vector Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Vector Group from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 28th.

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.