Caprock Group LLC Takes $1.68 Million Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 27,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,677,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 26.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 149,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,227,000 after acquiring an additional 23,446 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 9,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $646,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 61.4% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 8.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of SMG stock opened at $68.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.50 and a beta of 1.98. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $45.61 and a one year high of $70.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.22.

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently 179.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.40, for a total transaction of $3,320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,167,641 shares in the company, valued at $874,331,362.40. The trade was a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 24.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SMG has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $67.00 target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $70.00 target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

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.