Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 40.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,733 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,784 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $1,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,055,672 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 770.3% in the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 334,934 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $18,385,000 after acquiring an additional 296,448 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 149.5% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 192,437 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,563,000 after purchasing an additional 115,308 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 174.2% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 170,628 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,366,000 after purchasing an additional 108,408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer purchased 1,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $61.32 per share, with a total value of $109,762.80. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 10,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $621,171.60. This represents a 21.46% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total transaction of $4,359,600.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,274,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $826,721,784.72. This represents a 0.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SMG. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $71.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $56.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.21. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52-week low of $45.61 and a 52-week high of $93.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.74 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 60.46% and a net margin of 1.54%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is 347.37%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.