Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 62,044 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 313.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,812 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 62,044 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.14% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $5,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the third quarter worth $421,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 3rd quarter valued at about $227,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.7% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 30,264 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 344.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 80,434 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,974,000 after purchasing an additional 62,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 53.6% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,880 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,117,000 after buying an additional 4,496 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total value of $255,112.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,001,998. This trade represents a 5.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total transaction of $99,646.18. Following the completion of the sale, 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 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 valued at $11,379,275. Company insiders own 25.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price target for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $74.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.3 %

SMG stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Thursday, reaching $57.25. 768,991 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 812,546. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -119.27 and a beta of 1.79. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $55.68 and a twelve month high of $93.90. The firm's 50 day moving average is $64.79 and its 200 day moving average is $72.59.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.45) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict 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 declared 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 4.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -550.00%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.