Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG)

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 6,617 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 466% compared to the average volume of 1,170 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SMG shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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 objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $255,112.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,972 shares in the company, valued at $4,001,998. The trade was a 5.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 88,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. The trade was a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. RBF Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 3rd quarter worth $2,601,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,563,000 after buying an additional 331,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% in the third 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 5.7 %

SMG stock opened at $57.91 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $63.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.19. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 12 month low of $53.37 and a 12 month high of $93.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -120.64 and a beta of 1.79.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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) earnings per share. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

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.