The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Shares Purchased by Wealth Alliance

Wealth Alliance boosted its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 22.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,017 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SMG. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 151.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 194,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,576,000 after purchasing an additional 117,314 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at $823,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 126.7% during the third quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 63,435 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,278,000 after acquiring an additional 35,456 shares during the last quarter. FCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth about $1,011,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 78,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,056,000 after purchasing an additional 12,969 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SMG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial cut shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total value of $79,945.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,314,347.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total transaction of $79,945.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.40, for a total value of $876,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,881,368 shares in the company, valued at $810,671,891.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,750 shares of company stock valued at $6,604,492 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 0.4 %

SMG stock opened at $67.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.65 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.53. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52 week low of $43.67 and a 52 week high of $77.95.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.62) by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $410.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.83 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 44.37% and a negative net margin of 11.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.02) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -37.50%.

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.