IFP Advisors Inc Raises Stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 61.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 486 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $84,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 21.9% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,819 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 519.9% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 58,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,083,000 after purchasing an additional 48,643 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 219,313.5% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 162,366 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,710,000 after purchasing an additional 162,292 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 31.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,614 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the first quarter valued at about $226,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total value of $4,359,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,274,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $826,721,784.72. The trade was a 0.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer bought 1,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president owned 10,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $621,171.60. This trade represents a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $68.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $71.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.6%

SMG stock opened at $54.26 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $59.53 and its 200 day moving average is $60.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.40 and a beta of 1.96. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1-year low of $45.61 and a 1-year high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.40. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 1.54% and a negative return on equity of 60.46%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently 347.37%.

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.