Shell Asset Management Co. Has $92,000 Stock Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Shell Asset Management Co. lowered its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) by 16.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 387 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $92,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,046,743 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,499,000 after purchasing an additional 385,514 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter worth $8,179,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 114.6% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 323,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,813,000 after purchasing an additional 172,564 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 528,245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,667,000 after purchasing an additional 147,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 96.1% during the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 226,559 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,009,000 after acquiring an additional 111,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.29.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

SMG opened at $65.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.89 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $71.37 and a 200 day moving average of $64.86. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $102.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.82, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.58. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 16.57% and a positive return on equity of 81.02%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 26th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently -23.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Denise Stump sold 2,503 shares of the firm’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 owns 39,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,449,586.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.