The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $74.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a report 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 for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a "hold" rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday.

Insider Activity

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 88,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company's stock.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,432,565 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $124,203,000 after purchasing an additional 15,869 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,453,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 708,558 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $61,448,000 after buying an additional 14,730 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 628,414 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $41,689,000 after acquiring an additional 264,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,986,000. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

NYSE SMG traded up $1.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.76. 535,922 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 931,771. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.29. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1 year low of $53.37 and a 1 year high of $93.90. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -118.24 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 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio is currently -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.