Evercore ISI Raises Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) Price Target to $155.00

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) had its price target upped by Evercore ISI from $150.00 to $155.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Simon Property Group from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Scotiabank lifted 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Simon Property Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $153.50.

Simon Property Group Price Performance

NYSE SPG opened at $155.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $50.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.77, a PEG ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 1.75. 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 has a 12 month low of $102.11 and a 12 month high of $158.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $150.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.31.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.93 by ($1.42). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 78.50% and a net margin of 46.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Simon Property Group will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This is an increase from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.28%. Simon Property Group’s payout ratio is currently 101.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Simon Property Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Simon Property Group by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,380,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,258,076,000 after acquiring an additional 672,941 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Simon Property Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,561,181,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Simon Property Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,537,655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $504,611,000 after buying an additional 72,645 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in Simon Property Group by 4.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,321,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $363,165,000 after buying an additional 92,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Simon Property Group by 4.5% in the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 1,814,206 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $283,905,000 after buying an additional 78,866 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.01% of the company’s stock.

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.