The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG Shares Sold by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. lowered its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 40.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 361,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 241,192 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.63% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $19,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at $73,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total transaction of $4,359,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,274,274 shares in the company, valued at $826,721,784.72. The trade was a 0.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE SMG opened at $62.29 on Wednesday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52 week low of $45.61 and a 52 week high of $93.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.59. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 81.96 and a beta of 1.97.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.40. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 60.46% and a net margin of 1.54%.The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. Research analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently 347.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of 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 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $68.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.