14,127 Shares in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG Acquired by Sciencast Management LP

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP acquired 14,127 shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, valued at approximately $775,000, during the first quarter of the year.
• Institutional ownership of Scotts Miracle-Gro stands at 74.07%, with several firms, including Oppenheimer & Co. and Nuveen LLC, increasing their stakes in the company.
• The company reported earnings of $2.59 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, but showed a 1.2% revenue decline compared to the previous year.

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 14,127 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $775,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.1% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,415 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.3% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 8,826 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.0% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 10,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $565,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.8% during the first quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,524 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.5% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 12,100 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Zacks Research upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.17.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer acquired 1,790 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 10,130 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $621,171.60. This represents a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total value of $3,569,011.66. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,217,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $832,975,735.82. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:SMG traded down $0.93 on Friday, hitting $60.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 355,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,032,219. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.97 and a beta of 1.98. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $45.61 and a one year high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 60.46% and a net margin of 1.54%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio is currently 347.37%.

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.