The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $76.00.

SMG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 960 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.95, for a total transaction of $74,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,788,173. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 26.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,726,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,359,000 after acquiring an additional 542,406 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 194.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 761,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,515,000 after purchasing an additional 502,353 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,113,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $232,210,000 after purchasing an additional 479,315 shares in the last quarter. Interval Partners LP boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3,581.1% in the 1st quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 478,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,695,000 after purchasing an additional 465,546 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,699,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $71.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a PE ratio of -11.53 and a beta of 1.76. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52 week low of $43.67 and a 52 week high of $82.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $67.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.42. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 7.38% and a negative return on equity of 41.19%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently -42.31%.

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.