Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,200,000 shares, an increase of 23.8% from the February 28th total of 4,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,530,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on SPG. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $158.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Simon Property Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Scotiabank set a $186.00 price objective on shares of Simon Property Group in a report on Friday, February 28th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Simon Property Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $179.00 to $198.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Simon Property Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.33.

Simon Property Group Price Performance

SPG traded up $4.11 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $170.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,416,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,444,174. Simon Property Group has a 1 year low of $139.25 and a 1 year high of $190.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.19. The company has a market cap of $55.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.50, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.78. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.56.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $1.70. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 74.02% and a net margin of 41.49%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Simon Property Group will post 12.54 EPS for the current year.

Simon Property Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.92%. Simon Property Group’s payout ratio is 115.70%.

Institutional Trading of Simon Property Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Simon Property Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,059,505,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 45.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,718,398 shares during the last quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Simon Property Group during the 4th quarter worth $212,592,000. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group during the 4th quarter worth about $119,777,000. Finally, Hamlin Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Simon Property Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $109,403,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.01% of the company’s stock.

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.