Simon Property Group, Inc (SPG): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Undecided, What Should You Do?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of indicators market participants can use to analyze the equity markets. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outperform the market by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of reasons for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

What’s more, it’s important to examine the latest info for Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG).

What have hedge funds been doing with Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 29 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 12% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, AEW Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Furber, holds the largest position in Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG). AEW Capital Management has a $483.5 million position in the stock, comprising 12.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Ken Heebner of Capital Growth Management, with a $100.4 million position; 2.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

Consequently, particular hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. AEW Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Furber, established the largest position in Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG). AEW Capital Management had 483.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Heebner’s Capital Growth Management also made a $100.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new SPG positions are D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

How are insiders trading Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG). These stocks are SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG), Realty Income Corp (NYSE:O), Macerich Co (NYSE:MAC), Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM), and General Growth Properties Inc (NYSE:GGP). This group of stocks belong to the reit – retail industry and their market caps are similar to SPG’s market cap.