The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG Shares Purchased by Fifth Third Bancorp

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company by 40%, owning 23,733 shares valued at approximately $1,565,000 after acquiring an additional 6,784 shares in the 2nd quarter.
• Additional hedge funds, including Millennium Management LLC and Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC, significantly increased their positions in Scotts Miracle-Gro, with changes in ownership indicating growing institutional interest.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro announced a quarterly dividend of $0.66, yielding 4.7%, and has seen a substantial dividend payout ratio of 347.37% as of its latest financial disclosures.

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 40.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,733 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,784 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $1,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SMG. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 288.8% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,421,220 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $78,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055,672 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 770.3% during the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 334,934 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $18,385,000 after buying an additional 296,448 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,645,267 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $254,979,000 after buying an additional 118,729 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 149.5% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 192,437 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,563,000 after acquiring an additional 115,308 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 174.2% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 170,628 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,366,000 after acquiring an additional 108,408 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on SMG. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of SMG stock opened at $56.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.74 and a beta of 1.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.21. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 347.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer acquired 1,790 shares of the business'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 directly owned 10,130 shares in the company, valued at $621,171.60. This trade represents a 21.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 13,274,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at $826,721,784.72. The trade was a 0.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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