Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Director David Evans Sells 2,655 Shares of Company Stock

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Director David Evans sold 2,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.42, for a total transaction of $176,345.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,687,400.10. This represents a 9.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE:SMG opened at $63.71 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.99. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.92 and a beta of 1.87. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52 week low of $47.90 and a 52 week high of $75.34.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported ($2.16) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.21) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $302.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.11 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 77.42% and a net margin of 3.16%. The company’s revenue was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.63) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 4.78 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 4th. Investors of record on Friday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 20th. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently 157.14%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SMG. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 161.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,289,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,443,000 after purchasing an additional 795,970 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 8.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 895,841 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $54,475,000 after buying an additional 72,179 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the first quarter valued at $50,058,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 16.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 658,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,050,000 after buying an additional 92,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 544,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,096,000 after buying an additional 1,486 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.80.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company develops, manufactures and markets branded products for lawn care and gardening. Its offerings include grass seed, lawn fertilizers and weed-control products, soils, plant foods and other products for growing and maintaining lawns, gardens and landscapes. Its consumer brands include Scotts, Miracle-Gro and Ortho. The company also has a Hawthorne business that supplies equipment and products for indoor and hydroponic gardening. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s products are sold primarily in North America, with additional operations and sales in international markets.