Biondo Investment Advisors LLC Buys 600 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 67,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the quarter. Simon Property Group accounts for 1.6% of Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $11,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Simon Property Group during the third quarter valued at about $834,000. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 5,294 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 72.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 999 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 587,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $101,130,000 after purchasing an additional 3,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Simon Property Group in the fourth quarter worth $416,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SPG. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $158.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Simon Property Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $179.00 to $198.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Simon Property Group in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. Finally, Scotiabank set a $186.00 price target on Simon Property Group in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Simon Property Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.33.

Simon Property Group Trading Down 1.0 %

SPG stock opened at $164.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.19, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $175.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.37. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.25 and a fifty-two week high of $190.14.

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

Simon Property Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Simon Property Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz purchased 465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $168.59 per share, for a total transaction of $78,394.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 55,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,427,384.21. The trade was a 0.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Simon Property Group 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.