Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Price Target to $72.00

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Free Report) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $72.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company's stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SMG. Stifel Nicolaus raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Truist Financial raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

NYSE SMG traded up $1.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $66.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,685,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 973,764. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a fifty-two week low of $45.61 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of -138.75 and a beta of 1.99. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $55.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.29.

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is currently 528.00%.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,303 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,807,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,415 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Investment House LLC increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 61,190 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,059,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,664 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 8,826 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company's stock.

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.