Christopher Hagedorn Sells 3,568 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Stock

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $255,112.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,001,998. The trade was a 5.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

NYSE:SMG traded down $1.54 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $69.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 449,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 686,473. The company has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -144.53 and a beta of 1.74. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $53.43 and a one year high of $93.90. The business’s 50-day moving average is $71.28 and its 200-day moving average is $74.78.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.45) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -549.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 427.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 83.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.83.

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.