NewEdge Advisors LLC Acquires 1,095 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,095 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $1,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 258,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth about $9,474,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at about $286,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 53.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $181,000 after buying an additional 944 shares during the period. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 82,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,448,000 after buying an additional 7,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 3.3 %

NYSE SMG opened at $53.07 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.04. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $46.45 and a twelve month high of $93.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -110.55 and a beta of 1.96.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the business posted ($1.45) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently -550.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total value of $255,112.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,001,998. The trade was a 5.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275 over the last three months. Company insiders own 25.37% 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.