GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 630 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,331 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $918,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Simon Property Group during the third quarter worth $30,000. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC acquired a new stake in Simon Property Group during the third quarter worth $42,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Simon Property Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Simon Property Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. 93.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simon Property Group news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz purchased 465 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $168.59 per share, for a total transaction of $78,394.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,919 shares in the company, valued at $9,427,384.21. This represents a 0.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 8.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SPG shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $179.00 to $198.00 in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started 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. StockNews.com cut Simon Property Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Simon Property Group from $158.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $159.00 target price (up previously from $157.50) on shares of Simon Property Group in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Simon Property Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.10.

Simon Property Group Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE SPG opened at $176.07 on Friday. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.15 and a 1-year high of $186.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $177.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.93. The company has a market cap of $57.45 billion, a PE ratio of 23.44, a P/E/G ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.75.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.00 by ($1.54). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 76.21% and a net margin of 43.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. This is a positive change from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Simon Property Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 111.85%.

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.