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

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

SMG has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group dropped 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. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $67.67.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

NYSE SMG traded down $1.11 on Friday, reaching $65.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,415,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 976,086. The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -136.18 and a beta of 1.99. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1-year low of $45.61 and a 1-year high of $93.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $55.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.03.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.95 by $0.03. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.69 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro's dividend payout ratio is currently 528.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 516 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 454 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 562 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.