Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

SPG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $152.00 to $157.50 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $153.50.

Simon Property Group Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE SPG traded up $3.51 on Thursday, hitting $158.67. The stock had a trading volume of 1,349,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,468,656. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $150.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.53, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 2.19. Simon Property Group has a 52-week low of $102.11 and a 52-week high of $159.73. The stock has a market cap of $51.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 1.75.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by ($1.42). The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Simon Property Group had a net margin of 45.90% and a return on equity of 78.14%. Simon Property Group’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Simon Property Group will post 12.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.17%. This is an increase from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. Simon Property Group’s dividend payout ratio is 101.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz acquired 486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $150.17 per share, for a total transaction of $72,982.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 55,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,259,500.17. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 8.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Simon Property Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $364,000. One Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 470.2% during the 2nd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 8,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 7,419 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 14,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 64.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 17,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,701,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.01% of the company’s stock.

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.