Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $56,000 Stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC reduced its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 91.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 849 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,924 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,162,000. Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 202.2% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 25,140 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,180,000 after acquiring an additional 16,821 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,172,800 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $275,082,000 after acquiring an additional 151,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 63.5% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 56,337 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,884,000 after acquiring an additional 21,872 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total value of $99,646.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,039 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $858,748.54. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a "hold" rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $74.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of SMG stock traded down $1.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $57.90. The stock had a trading volume of 4,125,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 807,135. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $65.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.81. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $55.68 and a one year high of $93.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of -120.61 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) EPS 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 period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.45) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is presently -550.00%.

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.