Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,200,000 shares, a decline of 24.7% from the February 13th total of 5,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Simon Property Group

In other Simon Property Group news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz acquired 465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $168.59 per share, with a total value of $78,394.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,427,384.21. This represents a 0.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 8.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pitcairn Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 9,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,704,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Childress Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Simon Property Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $175.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Simon Property Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $179.00 to $198.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $158.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $186.00 target price on shares of Simon Property Group in a report on Friday, February 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Simon Property Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.33.

Simon Property Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SPG traded down $2.17 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $164.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,340,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,339,594. Simon Property Group has a 52 week low of $139.25 and a 52 week high of $190.14. The stock has a market cap of $53.74 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.19, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $176.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.47.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $1.70. Simon Property Group had a net margin of 41.49% and a return on equity of 74.02%. Analysts expect that Simon Property Group will post 12.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Simon Property Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Simon Property Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.70%.

Simon Property Group Company Profile

Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG) is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). Simon Property Group, L.P., or the Operating Partnership, is our majority-owned partnership subsidiary that owns all of our real estate properties and other assets. In this package, the terms Simon, we, our, or the Company refer to Simon Property Group, Inc, the Operating Partnership, and its subsidiaries.