Amundi Reduces Stock Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Amundi lowered its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 83.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,357 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 48,643 shares during the period. Amundi's holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 3rd quarter valued at $10,162,000. Algert Global LLC grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 202.2% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 25,140 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,180,000 after buying an additional 16,821 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,134 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,172,800 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $275,082,000 after buying an additional 151,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. raised 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 worth $4,884,000 after acquiring an additional 21,872 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SMG. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a "hold" rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group lowered 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 research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE SMG traded up $0.50 on Monday, hitting $58.49. The stock had a trading volume of 1,133,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 809,011. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.49 and a 200-day moving average of $72.85. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52-week low of $55.68 and a 52-week high of $93.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -121.86 and a beta of 1.79.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) 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 company earned ($1.45) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.51%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 12,123 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.86, for a total value of $810,543.78. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,432,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $898,073,615.86. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 13,039 shares of the company's stock, valued at $858,748.54. The trade was a 10.40 % 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 25.37% of the company's stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

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.