Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Sells 74,938 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,194,451 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 74,938 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned approximately 9.04% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $344,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5,300.0% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 702 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 58,918 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,171,000 after purchasing an additional 7,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 112.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE SMG remained flat at $53.57 on Thursday. 1,953,362 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 903,360. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -111.60 and a beta of 1.96. The stock's 50 day moving average is $57.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.93. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.45 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.45) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -550.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 12,123 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.86, for a total transaction of $810,543.78. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,432,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $898,073,615.86. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total value of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 sold 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275 over the last three months. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $69.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $68.17.

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.