The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.66 on June 7th

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.66 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, June 7th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd.

Scotts Miracle-Gro has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a payout ratio of 66.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Scotts Miracle-Gro to earn $3.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 69.5%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE SMG opened at $68.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.74 and a beta of 1.70. The company’s 50 day moving average is $67.38 and its 200-day moving average is $60.14. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 12-month low of $43.67 and a 12-month high of $77.95.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.62) by $0.17. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 11.52% and a negative return on equity of 44.37%. The business had revenue of $410.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.02) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased 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 note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total value of $79,945.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.40, for a total value of $876,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,881,368 shares in the company, valued at approximately $810,671,891.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total value of $79,945.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,347.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,750 shares of company stock worth $6,604,492 over the last three months. 26.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.