Centerstone Investors LLC Cuts Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Key Points

• Centerstone Investors LLC reduced its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company by 60.5%, holding shares worth $404,000 as of its latest SEC filing.
• Several hedge funds, including Spire Wealth Management and UMB Bank, significantly increased their stakes in Scotts Miracle-Gro by over 477%, indicating growing interest from institutional investors.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.66, yielding 4.4%, despite having a high dividend payout ratio of 347.37%.

Centerstone Investors LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 60.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,357 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,283 shares during the quarter. Scotts Miracle-Gro accounts for 1.0% of Centerstone Investors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Centerstone Investors LLC's holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 562 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,614 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on SMG shares. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $71.17.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer acquired 1,790 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president directly owned 10,130 shares of the company's stock, valued at $621,171.60. This represents a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total transaction of $4,359,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,274,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at $826,721,784.72. This represents a 0.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

NYSE SMG traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $63.08. 899,147 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 701,493. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $45.61 and a one year high of $93.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.99 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 1.54% and a negative return on equity of 60.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 347.37%.

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.