Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 35,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,194 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $2,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,807,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 68.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 16,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 directly owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,748.54. This trade represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275 in the last quarter. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 0.7 %

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $57.11 on Thursday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52 week low of $55.68 and a 52 week high of $93.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $64.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -118.97 and a beta of 1.79.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released 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 in the prior year, the company posted ($1.45) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.62%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

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.