StockNews.com Downgrades Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Monday.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Raymond James reissued a market perform rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $69.29.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of SMG opened at $74.59 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $62.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.54. The firm has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.60 and a beta of 1.69. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 12 month low of $43.67 and a 12 month high of $78.25.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.62) by $0.17. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 44.37% and a negative net margin of 11.52%. The company had revenue of $410.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.02) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -37.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $5,648,545.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,777,012 shares in the company, valued at $901,154,354.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $5,648,545.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,777,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $901,154,354.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total value of $79,945.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,314,347.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 102,750 shares of company stock worth $6,604,492. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,994,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $348,326,000 after acquiring an additional 237,463 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,640,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,815,000 after purchasing an additional 35,002 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,208,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $263,801,000 after purchasing an additional 183,915 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 62.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,330,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $161,837,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.2% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,711,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,106,000 after purchasing an additional 108,593 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.