Brokerages Set The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Price Target at $75.40

Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $75.40.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SMG shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Mark D. Kingdon sold 831 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.65, for a total transaction of $51,231.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $667,484.55. The trade was a 7.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.45, for a total transaction of $2,023,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,137,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,133,885.45. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,002 shares of company stock worth $2,154,734. 24.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 12,034.5% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,008,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,311 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,058,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 161.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,289,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,443,000 after buying an additional 795,970 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 458.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 822,743 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $54,268,000 after buying an additional 675,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 362.8% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 737,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,036,000 after buying an additional 578,174 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 1.2%

SMG stock opened at $61.00 on Tuesday. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1 year low of $52.00 and a 1 year high of $75.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 53.05 and a beta of 1.82.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 2.19% and a negative return on equity of 81.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 229.57%.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of consumer lawn and garden products. The firm serves both retail and professional customers through an array of branded offerings that include lawn fertilizers, grass seed, pest and disease control solutions, plant foods and specialty products for indoor and outdoor gardening. Its portfolio spans well-known names such as Scotts®, Miracle-Gro®, Ortho® and various hydroponic and specialty garden brands.

Headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, the company traces its roots to O.M.