Aigen Investment Management LP Invests $340,000 in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Key Points

• Aigen Investment Management LP has acquired 6,193 shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, valued at approximately $340,000, during the first quarter.
• Insider trading activity included Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. selling 70,000 shares at an average price of $62.28, which decreased their position by 0.52%.
• Several analysts have adjusted their price targets for Scotts Miracle-Gro, with a consensus target price now set at $71.17 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,193 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $340,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SMG. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter valued at about $816,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 17.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 144,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,945,000 after purchasing an additional 21,318 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 149.5% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 192,437 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,563,000 after purchasing an additional 115,308 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,645,267 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $254,979,000 after purchasing an additional 118,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the first quarter worth $955,000. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total value of $4,359,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,274,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at $826,721,784.72. The trade was a 0.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 25.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of SMG stock traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $62.22. 555,419 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 932,020. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $45.61 and a twelve month high of $93.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.87 and a beta of 1.97. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $64.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.02.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.23 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 60.46% and a net margin of 1.54%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is currently 347.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $71.17.

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.