Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,348 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% during 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 last quarter. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 228.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,286 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 2.9%

SMG opened at $58.03 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.36 and a beta of 1.98. The company’s 50 day moving average is $62.99 and its 200 day moving average is $60.36. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12-month low of $45.61 and a 12-month high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.40. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 1.54% and a negative return on equity of 60.46%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. The firm’s 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. As a group, analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently 347.37%.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer purchased 1,790 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $61.32 per share, with a total value of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president directly owned 10,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $621,171.60. This trade represents a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total transaction of $4,359,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,274,274 shares in the company, valued at $826,721,784.72. This represents a 0.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.