Simmons Bank Sells 119 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Simmons Bank lowered its holdings in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 119 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Simon Property Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 233,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,186,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Simon Property Group by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 58,386 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,307,000 after buying an additional 4,739 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Simon Property Group by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 2,514 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in Simon Property Group by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Simon Property Group by 10.5% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. 93.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SPG. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $139.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $143.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.22.

Simon Property Group Stock Performance

SPG traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $147.78. 831,068 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,485,727. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.50 and a beta of 1.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.97. 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 1-year low of $100.17 and a 1-year high of $157.82.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.80 by ($0.55). Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 42.30%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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 buy up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $2.00 per share. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This is a positive change from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.95. Simon Property Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 111.75%.

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.