Deutsche Bank AG Lowers Stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG significantly reduced its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company by 96.4%, selling 128,749 shares and only holding 4,821 shares post-sale, valued at $265,000.
• Institutional investors own approximately 74.07% of Scotts Miracle-Gro's stock, with several large firms, like Point72 Asset Management and Dimensional Fund Advisors, increasing their holdings in recent quarters.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share, boasting a dividend yield of 4.3%, despite a dividend payout ratio that is currently high at 347.37%.

Deutsche Bank AG lessened its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 96.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,821 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 128,749 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG's holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $265,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% in 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 during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the first quarter worth about $955,000. Avalon Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 5,120 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 12,957 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $71.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 0.8%

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.71. 460,608 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,044,499. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $45.61 and a 12 month high of $93.90. The stock's fifty day moving average is $64.76 and its 200-day moving average is $60.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.87 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.40. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 60.46% and a net margin of 1.54%.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 prior year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. The company's quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 347.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other 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 transaction of $4,359,600.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,274,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $826,721,784.72. This represents a 0.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.