Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.36 EPS

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.36, Briefing.com reports. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 44.37% and a negative net margin of 11.52%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.78 EPS. The business's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock traded up $0.40 on Thursday, reaching $68.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 861,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 760,526. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.66 and a beta of 1.70. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $68.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.90. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52 week low of $43.67 and a 52 week high of $77.95.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is -37.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $5,648,545.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,777,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $901,154,354.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $5,648,545.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,777,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at $901,154,354.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total value of $79,945.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 22,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,314,347.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 102,750 shares of company stock valued at $6,604,492. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SMG. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.57.

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.