Yarbrough Capital LLC Cuts Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Yarbrough Capital LLC reduced its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 28.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,095 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,881 shares during the period. Yarbrough Capital LLC's holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% in the 1st 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. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $565,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Investors Research Corp raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 14,348 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $788,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the first quarter valued at $350,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 7,126.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 88,592 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,863,000 after purchasing an additional 87,366 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on SMG shares. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $67.67.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:SMG traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.06. 854,510 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,177,283. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.03. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $45.61 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -133.46 and a beta of 1.99.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.95 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.69 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 528.00%.

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.