The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Receives $73.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $73.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SMG shares. StockNews.com raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $65.06 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.04. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.43 and a beta of 1.77. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1 year low of $43.67 and a 1 year high of $77.95.

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is -42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 11,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 228,543 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,811,000 after buying an additional 13,633 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,011,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,295,000 after buying an additional 119,115 shares during the period. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 11,535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 5,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.