Wealthquest Corp Buys New Shares in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Key Points

• Wealthquest Corp has acquired 42,355 shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, representing a stake valued at approximately $2,325,000, which amounts to about 0.07% ownership.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro recently reported $2.59 earnings per share, exceeding analyst estimates of $2.19, but its quarterly revenue declined by 1.2% year-over-year to $1.19 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.66, with a significant dividend payout ratio of 528.00%, reflecting a yield of 4.24% for shareholders.

Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 42,355 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,325,000. Wealthquest Corp owned 0.07% of Scotts Miracle-Gro at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,819 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 1st quarter valued at about $226,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,684,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,011,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE SMG traded down $0.79 on Friday, hitting $61.87. The stock had a trading volume of 1,205,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 828,453. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $45.61 and a one year high of $93.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.41 and a beta of 1.97. The company's 50-day moving average is $64.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.79.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during 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%. The business's revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 347.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SMG. Truist Financial set a $80.00 target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the company from $70.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.33.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.