Versant Capital Management Inc Purchases 289 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) by 963.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $48,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 55,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,376,000 after acquiring an additional 2,438 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Simon Property Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $221,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in shares of Simon Property Group by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Simon Property Group

In other news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz purchased 486 shares of Simon Property Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $8,259,500.17. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 8.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus raised their price target on Simon Property Group from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com raised Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Simon Property Group from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Simon Property Group from $152.00 to $157.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Simon Property Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $153.50.

Simon Property Group Trading Up 5.1 %

Simon Property Group stock traded up $7.48 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $155.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,586,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,471,958. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.20, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 2.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $150.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.13. The firm has a market cap of $50.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 1.75. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $102.11 and a 12-month high of $158.50.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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%. Simon Property Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This is an increase from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. Simon Property Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.91%.

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.