Versor Investments LP Purchases 4,408 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Versor Investments LP grew its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 34.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,208 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,408 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $1,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Creative Planning increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $717,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 83.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,898 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 90.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,553,274 shares in the company, valued at $1,045,499,556.36. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total value of $99,646.18. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,748.54. This trade represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,164 shares of company stock worth $13,664,064. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.83.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of SMG stock opened at $58.61 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $58.50 and a twelve month high of $93.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -122.09 and a beta of 1.74. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.02.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.45) earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is -550.00%.

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.