New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 11,679 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 244,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 11,679 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.42% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $13,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.4% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 217,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,392,000 after buying an additional 848 shares during the period. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.9% during the third quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 33,735 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 18.7% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,727 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 51,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,922,000 after acquiring an additional 2,044 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $70.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. UBS Group set a $67.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 2.8%

NYSE:SMG opened at $62.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.44 and a beta of 1.95. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12-month low of $45.61 and a 12-month high of $70.67.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The basic materials company reported ($0.77) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.04) by $0.27. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 68.59% and a net margin of 2.68%.The business had revenue of $354.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $353.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.89) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.150-4.35 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 179.59%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of consumer lawn and garden products. The firm serves both retail and professional customers through an array of branded offerings that include lawn fertilizers, grass seed, pest and disease control solutions, plant foods and specialty products for indoor and outdoor gardening. Its portfolio spans well-known names such as Scotts®, Miracle-Gro®, Ortho® and various hydroponic and specialty garden brands.

Headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, the company traces its roots to O.M.