Teza Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 5,319 The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,319 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.8% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 21,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,663,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.9% during the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,487 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.7% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,314 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.6% during the second quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 34,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,757,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Pavion Blue Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.8% during the third quarter. Pavion Blue Capital LLC now owns 26,335 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.98% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

NYSE:SMG opened at $73.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.61, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.41 and a 200-day moving average of $59.12. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $133.50.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The basic materials company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.36) by $0.34. The company had revenue of $526.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $502.44 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 11.64% and a positive return on equity of 55.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.88) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently -32.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $75.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $45.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $56.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.00.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Denise Stump sold 2,503 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total value of $216,534.53. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,449,586.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Denise Stump sold 2,503 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total value of $216,534.53. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,449,586.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.77, for a total transaction of $3,038,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,907,669.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,438 shares of company stock valued at $7,368,783 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 27.28% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Profile

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Scotts Miracle-Gro Co engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of products for lawn and garden care and indoor and hydroponic gardening. Its products and services include lawn care, gardening and landscape, hydroponic hardware and growing environments, lighting, controls, and marketing agreement.