Versor Investments LP Acquires New Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Versor Investments LP bought a new position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 23,785 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,355,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 3rd quarter worth $1,425,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 215.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 31,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,101,000 after purchasing an additional 21,747 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 333.3% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 603,941 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,836,000 after purchasing an additional 464,570 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 12.6% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 50,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,338,000 after buying an additional 5,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 315.9% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 92,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,079,000 after buying an additional 70,008 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $70.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group set a $67.00 target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $66.64 on Tuesday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $45.61 and a 1 year high of $70.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.14. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.33 and a beta of 1.98.

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is 179.59%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.