Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 3,198 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,366 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 3,198 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $6,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPG. Norges Bank bought a new position in Simon Property Group during the fourth quarter valued at $2,059,505,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,160,242 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,577,600,000 after buying an additional 230,982 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 45.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,462,856 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $940,758,000 after buying an additional 1,718,398 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,710,538 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $811,202,000 after acquiring an additional 246,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Simon Property Group by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,216,575 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $726,136,000 after acquiring an additional 542,511 shares in the last quarter. 93.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Simon Property Group from $186.00 to $159.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Simon Property Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $168.50 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Simon Property Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $179.67.

Simon Property Group Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of SPG traded down $4.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $158.25. 2,158,119 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,537,650. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.19. The firm has a market cap of $51.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.80, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.43. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $158.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.81. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $136.34 and a 12-month high of $190.14.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.04. Simon Property Group had a net margin of 41.49% and a return on equity of 74.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.56 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Simon Property Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Simon Property Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.76%.

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.