Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $58.62, but opened at $61.10. Scotts Miracle-Gro shares last traded at $64.30, with a volume of 595,421 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on SMG shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 2.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -138.75 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.29.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.95 by $0.03. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.69 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 528.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,684,000. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,046 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter worth $1,261,000. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.