Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Price Target Lowered to $67.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $67.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

SMG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. UBS Group set a $68.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.83.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:SMG opened at $56.51 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $62.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.26. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52 week low of $45.61 and a 52 week high of $93.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.36 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. Scotts Miracle-Gro’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. Analysts predict that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 347.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,645,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $254,979,000 after buying an additional 118,729 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,522,093 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,397,000 after buying an additional 16,298 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 288.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,421,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,011,000 after buying an additional 1,055,672 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 12,034.5% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,008,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,529,000 after buying an additional 1,000,311 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 163.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 899,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,344,000 after buying an additional 557,647 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.