New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 40,270 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 261,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 40,270 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $37,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SPG. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 33.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,412 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 1,608 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 6.2% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 5.1% in the third quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 47.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 57,186 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,178,000 after buying an additional 18,478 shares during the period. 93.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Simon Property Group Price Performance

Shares of SPG stock opened at $142.82 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.51. 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 firm has a market cap of $46.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.46, a P/E/G ratio of 7.54 and a beta of 1.65. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a one year low of $100.17 and a one year high of $157.82.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.34 by ($1.05). The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 42.30%. Simon Property Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.15 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $7.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.46%. This is a positive change from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. Simon Property Group’s payout ratio is currently 111.75%.

Simon Property Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 8th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the real estate investment trust to buy up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on SPG. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $143.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $139.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Simon Property Group from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.22.

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.