Stephens Consulting LLC Purchases 5,208 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Key Points

• Stephens Consulting LLC significantly increased its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company by adding 5,208 shares, bringing their total holdings to 5,242 shares valued at $346,000.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro reported earnings of $2.59 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates of $2.19, although their revenue fell short of expectations at $1.19 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share, yielding 4.8%, which raises concerns given its high dividend payout ratio of 347.37%.

Stephens Consulting LLC raised its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 15,317.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,242 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,208 shares during the quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC's holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in 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 valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter valued at $1,011,000. Abound Wealth Management purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter valued at $126,000. Finally, 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 purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 74.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $55.55 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.09 and a beta of 1.96. The firm's 50-day moving average is $60.09 and its 200 day moving average is $60.12. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $45.61 and a 1 year high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company 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%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 347.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SMG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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 report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.17.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total transaction of $3,569,011.66. Following the sale, the director owned 13,217,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at $832,975,735.82. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer purchased 1,790 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the acquisition, 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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