Patton Fund Management Inc. Sells 5,912 Shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG)

Patton Fund Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,718 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,912 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings in Simon Property Group were worth $5,634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Simon Property Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC bought a new stake in Simon Property Group during the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Simon Property Group in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Simon Property Group in the third quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of Simon Property Group by 107.5% during the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. 93.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simon Property Group news, Director Reuben S. Leibowitz purchased 465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $168.59 per share, for a total transaction of $78,394.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 55,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,427,384.21. The trade was a 0.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 8.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Simon Property Group Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE SPG opened at $175.58 on Wednesday. Simon Property Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $135.15 and a 1 year high of $186.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.20, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $57.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 9.26 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $176.49 and a 200 day moving average of $169.30.

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by ($1.54). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Simon Property Group had a return on equity of 76.21% and a net margin of 43.36%. Simon Property Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.20 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Simon Property Group, Inc. will post 12.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Simon Property Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This is a positive change from Simon Property Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.05. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Simon Property Group’s payout ratio is 111.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SPG shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Simon Property Group from $158.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Simon Property Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Simon Property Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $179.00 to $198.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Simon Property Group in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $195.00 target price on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simon Property Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.10.

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.