Fulton Bank N.A. Buys New Holdings in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Fulton Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,009 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Simon Property Group by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its position in Simon Property Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,118 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $696,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in Simon Property Group by 0.9% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 7,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Simon Property Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 6,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC boosted its position in Simon Property Group by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 2,648 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.01% of the company’s stock.

Simon Property Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SPG opened at $171.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.20, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.00. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.15 and a 1 year high of $186.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.80 billion, a PE ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.75. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $177.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $166.85.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by ($1.54). The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 76.21% and a net margin of 43.36%. Simon Property Group’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.20 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This is a boost from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.05. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Simon Property Group’s payout ratio is currently 111.85%.

Insider Activity at Simon Property Group

In related news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz bought 465 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $168.59 per share, for a total transaction of $78,394.35. Following the acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 8.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Simon Property Group from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com cut Simon Property Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Simon Property Group in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $198.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.10.

About Simon Property Group

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.