Sentry Investment Management LLC Makes New $456,000 Investment in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Key Points

• Sentry Investment Management LLC invested approximately $456,000 in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company by acquiring 6,595 shares during the second quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors have adjusted their stakes in Scotts Miracle-Gro; notably, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position by 31.6% in the first quarter.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro declared a quarterly dividend of $0.66, with an annualized yield of 4.9%, despite experiencing a decline in quarterly revenue year-over-year.

Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,595 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SMG. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,614 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 74,483 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,088,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 216,304 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $11,873,000 after buying an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,246 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,868,000 after buying an additional 1,948 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SMG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.6%

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $54.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.40 and a beta of 1.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.12. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 347.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 13,274,274 shares in the company, valued at $826,721,784.72. This trade represents a 0.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer purchased 1,790 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 owned 10,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $621,171.60. The trade was a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 25.37% of the company's stock.

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.

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