The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Shares Sold by Parthenon LLC

Parthenon LLC lessened its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,925 shares during the period. Parthenon LLC owned about 0.08% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $3,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SMG. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 7,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 23.7% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.9% during the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.3% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 11,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.5% during the third quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 9,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

SMG traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $68.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,914,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 747,420. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.75 and a beta of 1.70. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1-year low of $43.67 and a 1-year high of $77.95.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.62) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $410.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.83 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 11.52% and a negative return on equity of 44.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.02) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -37.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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