Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 4,626 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Wright Investors Service Inc. reduced its stake in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) by 59.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,626 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SPG. Cowa LLC bought a new position in shares of Simon Property Group in the first quarter worth $107,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Simon Property Group in the fourth quarter worth $807,887,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 13,226.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 920,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,312,000 after acquiring an additional 913,678 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Simon Property Group by 10.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,144,366 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $910,337,000 after buying an additional 765,146 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Simon Property Group by 527.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 804,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $105,899,000 after buying an additional 676,627 shares during the period. 93.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Simon Property Group Stock Down 0.4 %

SPG opened at $140.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $45.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11, a P/E/G ratio of 7.39 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $149.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.54. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $100.17 and a 12 month high of $157.82.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.34 by ($1.05). The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 42.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.06 EPS for the current year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $1.95 per share. This represents a $7.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. Simon Property Group’s payout ratio is currently 111.75%.

Simon Property Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 8th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on SPG. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Simon Property Group from $144.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Simon Property Group from $143.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Simon Property Group from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Simon Property Group from $139.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simon Property Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.22.

Simon Property Group Company Profile

Simon is a real estate investment trust engaged in the ownership of premier shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations and an S&P 100 company (Simon Property Group, NYSE: SPG). Our properties across North America, Europe and Asia provide community gathering places for millions of people every day and generate billions in annual sales.