Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Invests $172,000 in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,132 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $172,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Simon Property Group in the 4th quarter valued at $5,706,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Simon Property Group by 97.8% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 75,067 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,708,000 after acquiring an additional 37,108 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Simon Property Group by 11.9% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,054 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,169,000 after acquiring an additional 3,626 shares in the last quarter. Napa Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Simon Property Group in the fourth quarter worth about $3,151,000. Finally, Aspiriant LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,139,000. 93.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Simon Property Group from $157.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Simon Property Group from $152.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Simon Property Group from $155.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Simon Property Group from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simon Property Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.44.

Simon Property Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of SPG opened at $163.74 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $157.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.49. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.11 and a 12 month high of $169.18. The company has a market capitalization of $53.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a PEG ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.53.

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

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. This is a positive change from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Simon Property Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.46%.

Insider Transactions at Simon Property Group

In other news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz bought 486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 8.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.