Earnest Partners LLC Buys 42,500 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,155,653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,500 shares during the period. Scotts Miracle-Gro makes up approximately 1.0% of Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Earnest Partners LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $205,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SMG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter worth $27,699,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth about $83,000. Commerce Bank boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 121.3% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 19,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 10,567 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 400.9% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 64,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,162,000 after purchasing an additional 51,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 18,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 960 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.95, for a total transaction of $74,832.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,788,173. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total transaction of $211,938.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 37,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,689,665.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 960 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.95, for a total transaction of $74,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,788,173. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,078 shares of company stock valued at $6,325,042 over the last 90 days. 26.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $80.86 on Thursday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12-month low of $43.67 and a 12-month high of $82.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.96 and a beta of 1.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $71.04 and a 200 day moving average of $68.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 41.19% and a negative net margin of 7.38%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -42.31%.

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.