Brokerages Set The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Price Target at $65.83

Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $65.83.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SMG shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,645,267 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $254,979,000 after acquiring an additional 118,729 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 288.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,421,220 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $78,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055,672 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at $53,453,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 72.6% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 628,414 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $41,689,000 after acquiring an additional 264,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at $39,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company's stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE SMG traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $59.40. The stock had a trading volume of 657,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 962,661. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52-week low of $45.61 and a 52-week high of $93.90. The company has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -123.75 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.21.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.95 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is currently 528.00%.

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.