As previously reported, Oppenheimer analyst Ian Zaffino downgraded Vector Group to Perform from Outperform, owing to an increased risk to the dividend. For some time, the analyst has highlighted the dividend is largely underfunded and should be viewed partly as a "return of capital", yet the company has the cash, assets and motivation to continue the payment for numerous years. However, the recent decline in the stock price-driven by peer multiple compression, soft NY real estate and its largest shareholder's SEC troubles-has created an unusually high dividend yield, he contends. With no clear path to fully fund the dividend with organic cash flow, Zaffino believes the company could use this opportunity to lower the dividend and the associated yield.