BDF Gestion Invests $5.85 Million in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 38,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $5,850,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SPG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Simon Property Group by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,380,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,258,076,000 after purchasing an additional 672,941 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group during the 4th quarter valued at $2,561,181,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,537,655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $504,611,000 after buying an additional 72,645 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Simon Property Group by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,321,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $363,165,000 after buying an additional 92,648 shares during the period. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Simon Property Group by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 1,814,206 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $283,905,000 after buying an additional 78,866 shares in the last quarter. 93.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Simon Property Group Price Performance

SPG stock traded up $3.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $158.67. 1,349,417 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,468,656. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $102.11 and a 52 week high of $159.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 1.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.53, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.93 by ($1.42). The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Simon Property Group had a net margin of 45.90% and a return on equity of 78.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.17%. This is an increase from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. Simon Property Group’s payout ratio is currently 101.91%.

Insider Activity at Simon Property Group

In other news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz acquired 486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $150.17 per share, with a total value of $72,982.62. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 55,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,259,500.17. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 8.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Simon Property Group from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Argus upped their price target on Simon Property Group from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $152.00 to $157.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Simon Property Group from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Simon Property Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.50.

About Simon Property Group

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.