Royal Bank of Canada Sells 15,980 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 7.6%, resulting in ownership of approximately $10.7 million worth of shares after selling 15,980 shares during the first quarter.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro reported earnings of $2.59 per share for the last quarter, which exceeded analysts' expectations, despite a 1.2% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.66 per share, which represents a 4.3% dividend yield, with a high dividend payout ratio of 347.37%.

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 194,780 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 15,980 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.34% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $10,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 562 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the first quarter valued at $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 31.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,614 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SMG. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Zacks Research raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $71.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 13,217,641 shares in the company, valued at $832,975,735.82. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer purchased 1,790 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 10,130 shares in the company, valued at $621,171.60. This represents a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of SMG traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $59.87. The stock had a trading volume of 603,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 655,103. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $45.61 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.37. The firm has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.77 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.40. The company 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 company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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. On average, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio is presently 347.37%.

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.