Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) Short Interest Up 23.8% in March

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on SPG shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $198.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Simon Property Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Piper Sandler raised shares of Simon Property Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $205.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Simon Property Group in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Simon Property Group from $158.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Simon Property Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Simon Property Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 16.4% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 92,207 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,582,000 after purchasing an additional 12,990 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,214,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 389.7% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,897 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $828,000 after buying an additional 3,897 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 17.1% during the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ClearAlpha Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 10.6% in the third quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 5,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the period. 93.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Simon Property Group Price Performance

Simon Property Group stock traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $166.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,483,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,444,887. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.56. The company has a market cap of $54.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.78. Simon Property Group has a fifty-two week low of $139.25 and a fifty-two week high of $190.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.19.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last issued 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Simon Property Group 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 was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.04%. Simon Property Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.70%.

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.