Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 2,700 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,700 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,172,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $275,082,000 after buying an additional 151,354 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,432,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $124,203,000 after buying an additional 15,869 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $61,448,000 after buying an additional 14,730 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,563,000 after buying an additional 331,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 228.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 252,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,918,000 after buying an additional 175,719 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE SMG opened at $58.56 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $67.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of -122.00 and a beta of 1.74. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $58.17 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.45) EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.51%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently -550.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the business’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 owns 88,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,319,463.60. The trade was a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $858,748.54. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 190,164 shares of company stock valued at $13,664,064. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.83.

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.