Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Trims Stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,255 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 176 shares during the quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $83,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 2nd quarter worth about $235,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 29.2% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 47,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,080,000 after buying an additional 10,691 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 30.0% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 1,520 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 23.1% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 51,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,378,000 after buying an additional 9,732 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,259,000 after acquiring an additional 39,468 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 11,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $856,127.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 51,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,891,428.47. This represents a 18.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 500 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.14, for a total transaction of $38,570.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,553,274 shares in the company, valued at $1,045,499,556.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 58,227 shares of company stock valued at $4,410,268. Company insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.67.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE SMG opened at $68.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -99.62 and a beta of 1.73. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $53.43 and a one year high of $93.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $72.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.96.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -382.61%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.