Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 545,258 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,975 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.96% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $34,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter worth about $52,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 23.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,376 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 826.3% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,482 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE:SMG traded down $1.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $66.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 929,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 758,198. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.91 and a beta of 1.70. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $43.67 and a 12 month high of $77.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $70.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.10.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 10.14% and a negative return on equity of 20.97%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is presently -42.31%.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.40, for a total transaction of $876,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,881,368 shares of the company's stock, valued at $810,671,891.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 132,356 shares of company stock valued at $8,684,316. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company's stock.

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.