Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Has $153,000 Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC cut its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 36.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,591 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 733.0% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 31.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,614 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE:SMG opened at $62.25 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $64.78 and its 200-day moving average is $61.88. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.50 and a beta of 2.01. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52-week low of $45.61 and a 52-week high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 56.15% and a net margin of 1.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is 528.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SMG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $54.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.83.

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.