Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,321 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $5,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SMG. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,819 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,614 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 1st quarter valued at $226,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,684,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the first quarter worth approximately $1,011,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SMG. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of SMG stock opened at $67.95 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 135.90 and a beta of 2.01. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $45.61 and a twelve month high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.95 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 1.04% and a negative return on equity of 56.15%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 528.00%.

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.