Lazard Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) by 57.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 317,277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 115,399 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $49,650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SPG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Simon Property Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,561,181,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 13,226.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 920,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,312,000 after buying an additional 913,678 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 1.5% during the 1st 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 buying an additional 672,941 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 11,722.9% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 672,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $95,957,000 after buying an additional 667,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 160.1% during the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 763,371 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,887,000 after buying an additional 469,855 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Simon Property Group from $142.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. StockNews.com raised Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Argus lifted 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.89.

Insider Activity at Simon Property Group

In other news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz purchased 486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $150.17 per share, for a total transaction of $72,982.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,259,500.17. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 8.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Simon Property Group Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of SPG stock traded up $3.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $152.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,032,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,326,743. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 1.75. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a one year low of $102.11 and a one year high of $158.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.20.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.80 by ($0.55). Simon Property Group had a net margin of 46.49% and a return on equity of 78.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.84 EPS for the current year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $2.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This is a positive change from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.95. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.25%. Simon Property Group’s payout ratio is currently 101.91%.

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.