The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.29.

Several analysts have recently commented on SMG shares. StockNews.com upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $70.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. Barclays cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $105.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total value of $1,675,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,053,233. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 27.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.2% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 98,971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,319 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $531,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 33.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 3,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 846 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 6,684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4,946.9% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 2,424 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.98% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE SMG opened at $68.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.22 and a 200-day moving average of $66.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.82, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of -6.12 and a beta of 1.63. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $102.25.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.58. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a positive return on equity of 81.02% and a negative net margin of 16.57%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.03 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Investors of record on Friday, May 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 25th. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently -23.55%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

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Scotts Miracle-Gro Co engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of products for lawn and garden care and indoor and hydroponic gardening. Its products and services include lawn care, gardening and landscape, hydroponic hardware and growing environments, lighting, controls, and marketing agreement.