Here’s Why Baron Funds Trimmed its Simon Property Group (SPG) Stake

Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Real Estate Fund” first quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The Baron Real Estate Fund (the “Fund”) declined 10.76% (Institutional Shares) in the first quarter of 2022, modestly outperforming its primary benchmark, the MSCI USA IMI Extended Real Estate Index (the “MSCI Real Estate Index”), which declined 11.03%. The Fund underperformed the MSCI US REIT Index (the “REIT Index”), which declined 4.28%. Try to spend some time looking at the fund’s top 5 holdings to be informed about their best picks for 2022.

In its Q1 2022 investor letter, Baron Real Estate Fund mentioned Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1960, Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) is an Indianapolis, Indiana-based real estate investment trust company with a $40.5 billion market capitalization. Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) delivered a -32.55% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -13.53%. The stock closed at $107.77 per share on May 23, 2022.

Here is what Baron Real Estate Fund has to say about Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Following a share price gain of more than 97% in 2021, we recently trimmed the Fund’s holdings in Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG), the largest and premier mall operator in the U.S. Though we are also tempered by the expectation for modest earnings growth in 2022, we remain optimistic about the company’s long-term prospects. Simon owns A-quality malls in A-quality geographic locations. We expect Simon to benefit from the ongoing economic recovery and believe management is well positioned to acquire real estate assets given its strong balance sheet and low cost of capital.”

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Our calculations show that Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) was in 39 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 38 funds in the previous quarter. Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) delivered a -23.54% return in the past 3 months.

In November 2021, we published an article that includes Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) in  10 Dividend Stocks to Buy Now According to Allon Hellmann’s Full18 Capital. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q1 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.