Legal & General Group Plc Has $4.52 Million Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,149 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,043 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.12% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $4,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter worth $39,986,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 219,532 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $14,439,000 after buying an additional 9,684 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 218,541 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $14,498,000 after buying an additional 14,088 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth about $9,684,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 117,738 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,811,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SMG shares. Truist Financial raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.17.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $858,748.54. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 12,123 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.86, for a total transaction of $810,543.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,432,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $898,073,615.86. This trade represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company's stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

SMG traded down $0.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $52.85. The stock had a trading volume of 555,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 904,279. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1-year low of $46.45 and a 1-year high of $93.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -110.04 and a beta of 1.96. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $56.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.72.

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio is -550.00%.

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.