Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 25,863 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,183,932 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 25,863 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 3.85% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $139,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 31,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.67, for a total value of $2,159,770.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,746,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $957,684,656.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 26.46% of the company's stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 2.1 %

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.39. 563,299 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 784,447. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $68.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.43. The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of -10.64 and a beta of 1.77. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $43.67 and a one year high of $77.95.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 20.97% and a negative net margin of 10.14%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio is presently -42.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SMG. StockNews.com upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Truist Financial lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.00.

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.