Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $746,000 in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 11,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $746,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SMG. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the third quarter worth $28,336,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2,810.8% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 313,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,204,000 after acquiring an additional 302,776 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 484.4% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 314,997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,279,000 after acquiring an additional 261,097 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 62.9% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 595,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,801,000 after acquiring an additional 230,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4,927.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 228,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,546,000 after acquiring an additional 223,639 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In related news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total value of $79,945.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,918 shares in the company, valued at $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total value 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 $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,777,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $901,154,354.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,750 shares of company stock worth $6,604,492 over the last quarter. Insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SMG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial downgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of SMG stock opened at $67.75 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $43.67 and a fifty-two week high of $77.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.62 and a beta of 1.70. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.47.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.62) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $410.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.83 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 44.37% and a negative net margin of 11.52%. The company’s revenue was down 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.02) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio 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.