Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $751.72 Million Stock Holdings in Simon Property Group, Inc. $SPG

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP sold 8,075 shares of Simon Property Group, reducing its stake by 0.2% and owning approximately 4.5 million shares valued at $751.7 million at the end of the last quarter.
• While Dimensional decreased its holdings, other investors like Park Square Financial Group and Richardson Financial Services significantly increased their stakes in Simon Property Group during the same period.
• Simon Property Group recently declared a quarterly dividend of $2.15 per share, raising its annualized dividend yield to 5.0%, marking an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $2.10.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG - Free Report) by 0.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,526,409 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 8,075 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.39% of Simon Property Group worth $751,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SPG. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Simon Property Group by 5.3% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 801,728 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $133,151,000 after purchasing an additional 166,439 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its position in Simon Property Group by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 14,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,325,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Simon Property Group by 54.4% in the 1st quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 7,744 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,729 shares in the last quarter. 93.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SPG. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $159.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Simon Property Group from $182.00 to $169.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $179.00 target price on shares of Simon Property Group and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $192.00 to $180.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Simon Property Group in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $182.64.

Simon Property Group Price Performance

SPG stock traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $173.18. 1,581,618 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,525,658. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.05. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a one year low of $136.34 and a one year high of $190.13. The company has a market cap of $56.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.77, a P/E/G ratio of 11.59 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $164.62.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 72.38% and a net margin of 36.78%. The firm's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.90 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $2.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 9th. This is an increase from Simon Property Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Simon Property Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 129.83%.

Insider Activity at Simon Property Group

In other Simon Property Group news, Director Glyn Aeppel purchased 234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $159.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,273.86. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,057 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,035,589.53. The trade was a 1.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Larry C. Glasscock acquired 396 shares of Simon Property Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $159.29 per share, with a total value of $63,078.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 43,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,878,938.65. This trade represents a 0.93% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 2,428 shares of company stock valued at $387,271 over the last quarter. 8.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.