The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.33.

SMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

SMG stock opened at $51.35 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.92. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a fifty-two week low of $49.39 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of -106.98 and a beta of 1.96.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.45) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.14%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -550.00%.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In related news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total transaction of $99,646.18. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,039 shares in the company, valued at $858,748.54. This trade represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares in the company, valued at $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275 over the last 90 days. 25.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 63.5% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 56,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after purchasing an additional 21,872 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. RBF Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,601,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,563,000 after acquiring an additional 331,925 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.