The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Shares Sold by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas trimmed its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 92.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,295 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 75,517 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SMG. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,664 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,524 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Commerce Bank raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 12,530 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $831,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 4,849 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,295 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $565,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the period. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $71.00 price target (up from $54.00) on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $71.83.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock traded down $0.82 on Friday, reaching $66.67. 685,876 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 952,193. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $63.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 133.34 and a beta of 2.01. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $45.61 and a twelve month high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.95 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 1.04% and a negative return on equity of 56.15%. The firm's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.69 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is currently 528.00%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company 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.