Insiders Are Running Away From Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE) and Two Finance-Related Companies (REIT and Investment Management Firm)

Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE:SPG) also had one of its executives unload some shares at the beginning of this week. David J. Contis, Senior Executive Vice President, President of Simon Malls, offloaded 11,000 shares on Monday at a price of $202.63 per share, trimming his overall holding to 15,163 shares.

Simon Property Group is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and has interests in 209 income-producing properties across the United States, which include 108 malls, 71 Premium Outlets, 14 Mills, 4 lifestyle centers, and 12 other retail properties. The REIT’s total consolidated revenue for 2015 totaled $5.27 billion, which increased from $4.87 billion in 2014 and $4.54 billion in 2013. Standard & Poor’s is set to add a new real estate sector to its Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) structure in September, which might have a beneficial impact on REITs in general. It is believed that REITs will experience increased demand following this move, as U.S. equity funds would have to invest approximately $100 billion in this sector to reach a market-neutral position. Moreover, analysts anticipate that REITs will experience less volatility given that this camp of stocks will be separated from the highly-volatile financials sector. Simon Property Group currently pays out an annualized dividend of $6.40 per share, which equates to a current dividend yield of 3.18%. The REIT has seen its shares advance close to 4% since the beginning of the year. There were 31 hedge funds from our database invested in the REIT on December 31, accumulating almost 2% of its total number of outstanding shares. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management holds a number of 500,439 shares in Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE:SPG) as of the end of the October-to-December period.

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