The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.66

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of 0.66 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, June 7th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd.

Scotts Miracle-Gro has raised its dividend by an average of 3.2% per year over the last three years. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a payout ratio of 66.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Scotts Miracle-Gro to earn $3.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 69.5%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 1.0 %

SMG opened at $68.58 on Wednesday. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 12-month low of $43.67 and a 12-month high of $77.95. The company has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.74 and a beta of 1.70. The company’s 50 day moving average is $67.38 and its 200 day moving average is $60.14.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $410.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 company’s revenue was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.02) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro 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 sale, the director now directly owns 22,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the director now owns 13,777,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,154,354.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,314,347.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,750 shares of company stock valued at $6,604,492 in the last three months. 26.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on SMG shares. Truist Financial cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.00.

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.