New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 2,334 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,146 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,334 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $3,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $2,663,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.9% in the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,487 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.7% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,314 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,595 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $68.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.76 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.30. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $43.67 and a fifty-two week high of $77.95.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.83 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.02) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is -37.50%.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

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.