The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG Shares Sold by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 258 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the second quarter worth $28,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the first quarter valued at $41,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the second quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the second quarter valued at $66,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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 report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $68.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total transaction of $3,569,011.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,217,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $832,975,735.82. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer bought 1,790 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president owned 10,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $621,171.60. This represents a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 0.7%

SMG stock opened at $54.88 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.10. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52-week low of $45.61 and a 52-week high of $93.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.21 and a beta of 1.96.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 347.37%.

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.