Cary Street Partners Financial LLC Invests $955,000 in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Key Points

• Cary Street Partners Financial LLC has acquired a new stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, purchasing 17,396 shares valued at approximately $955,000.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share, representing a 4.4% yield, to be paid on September 5th.
• Recent analyst changes include upgrades and price adjustments, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $71.17 for the stock.

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 17,396 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $955,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 63,592 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,219,000 after buying an additional 5,275 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,008,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth about $298,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,986,000. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 233.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 90,958 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,034,000 after buying an additional 63,641 shares during the period. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were 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 directly owned 13,274,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $826,721,784.72. This represents a 0.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 2.8%

SMG stock traded up $1.66 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $61.43. The company had a trading volume of 205,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,075,888. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.86 and a beta of 1.97. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $45.61 and a 12 month high of $93.90.

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is presently 347.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SMG. UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $71.17.

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.