Scotts Miracle-Gro’s (SMG) “Market Perform” Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reiterated their market perform rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) in a research note published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $69.29.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 2.8 %

SMG stock opened at $73.61 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.42. The company has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.46 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.50, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 12 month low of $43.67 and a 12 month high of $78.25.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.62) by $0.17. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 11.52% and a negative return on equity of 44.37%. The firm had revenue of $410.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.02) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -37.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total transaction of $79,945.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total transaction of $79,945.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $5,648,545.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,777,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,154,354.92. 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 over the last 90 days. 26.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SMG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 62.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,330,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $161,837,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283,911 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 3rd quarter worth $28,336,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,543,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $98,370,000 after buying an additional 531,160 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,699,000. Finally, Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 1st quarter valued at $29,141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.