Clarius Group LLC Acquires 7,403 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Clarius Group LLC increased its position in shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG - Free Report) by 283.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,013 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 7,403 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC's holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $1,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Simon Property Group by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,144,366 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $910,337,000 after purchasing an additional 765,146 shares during the last quarter. Cowa LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group during the 1st quarter worth $107,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group during the 4th quarter worth $807,887,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,500,305 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $763,656,000 after purchasing an additional 421,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,745,198 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $512,624,000 after purchasing an additional 86,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $148.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $139.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Simon Property Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $143.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Four 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $140.22.

Simon Property Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SPG traded down $2.07 on Friday, reaching $144.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,128,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,525,539. The stock's 50-day moving average is $149.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.33. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.17 and a 52-week high of $157.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.54, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a PEG ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 1.65.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.34 by ($1.05). The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.38 billion. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 42.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.06 EPS for the current year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $1.95 per share. This is a boost from Simon Property Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. This represents a $7.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Simon Property Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 111.75%.

Simon Property Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 8th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the real estate investment trust to purchase up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Simon Property Group Company Profile

Simon is a real estate investment trust engaged in the ownership of premier shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations and an S&P 100 company (Simon Property Group, NYSE: SPG). Our properties across North America, Europe and Asia provide community gathering places for millions of people every day and generate billions in annual sales.