Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Upgraded to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Scotts Miracle-Gro has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a positive outlook from analysts.
• The company reported $2.59 earnings per share, exceeding expectations, but revenue of $1.19 billion fell short of estimates.
• Scotts Miracle-Gro has set an FY 2025 EPS guidance of 3.500, with a consensus price target of $71.17 from analysts.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on SMG. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $71.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:SMG traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $59.72. The stock had a trading volume of 513,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 650,094. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.58 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.40. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52 week low of $45.61 and a 52 week high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 1.54% and a negative return on equity of 60.46%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total transaction of $3,569,011.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,217,641 shares in the company, valued at $832,975,735.82. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer bought 1,790 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 10,130 shares in the company, valued at $621,171.60. This represents a 21.46% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,645,267 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $254,979,000 after buying an additional 118,729 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,522,093 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $100,397,000 after acquiring an additional 16,298 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 288.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,421,220 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $78,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055,672 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 12,034.5% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,008,623 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $66,529,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 163.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 899,690 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $59,344,000 after purchasing an additional 557,647 shares during the period. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.