State of Alaska Department of Revenue Sells 485 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,486 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 485 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $285,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 21,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,663,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,487 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,314 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,595 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In related news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total transaction of $79,945.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $5,648,545.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,777,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,154,354.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total transaction of $79,945.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,314,347.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,750 shares of company stock valued at $6,604,492 in the last three months. Company insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 3.3 %

NYSE:SMG opened at $69.44 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $65.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.13. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $43.67 and a 12 month high of $77.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.86 and a beta of 1.70.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.62) by $0.17. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 11.52% and a negative return on equity of 44.37%. The firm had revenue of $410.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.83 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.02) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -37.50%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company 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.