Truist Financial Corp Invests $193,000 in Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR)

Truist Financial Corp purchased a new position in Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 18,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $193,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VGR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vector Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,585,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,366,000 after purchasing an additional 74,550 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Vector Group by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 36,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,297 shares in the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Vector Group by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 73,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $800,000 after acquiring an additional 4,701 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Vector Group by 55.7% in the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 35,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $386,000 after acquiring an additional 12,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Vector Group by 27.9% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 64.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vector Group Price Performance

VGR stock opened at $14.99 on Friday. Vector Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $9.27 and a 1 year high of $15.53. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.35.

Vector Group (NYSE:VGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $371.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.90 million. As a group, analysts expect that Vector Group Ltd. will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Vector Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.34%. Vector Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VGR has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Vector Group in a research report on Friday. They issued a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on Vector Group from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th.

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.