The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $75.83.

SMG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE SMG opened at $55.85 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.88. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52 week low of $55.68 and a 52 week high of $93.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -116.35 and a beta of 1.74.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.45) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.73%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total transaction of $99,646.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $858,748.54. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 18,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $1,390,090.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 87,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,616,399.68. This represents a 17.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 189,664 shares of company stock worth $13,625,494. Insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SMG. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,172,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $275,082,000 after buying an additional 151,354 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,432,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $124,203,000 after buying an additional 15,869 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,453,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 708,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $61,448,000 after buying an additional 14,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 72.6% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 628,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,689,000 after buying an additional 264,369 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and sells products for lawn, garden care, and indoor and hydroponic gardening in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Consumer, Hawthorne, and Other. The company provides lawn care products, comprising lawn fertilizers, grass seed products, spreaders, and other durable products, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products; and gardening and landscape products, which include water-soluble and continuous-release plant foods, potting mixes, garden soils, mulches and ground cover products, plant-related pest and disease control products, organic garden products, and live goods and seeding solutions.