Blair William & Co. IL Trims Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 17.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200,293 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 42,761 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.35% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $11,407,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 201.1% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 157.3% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 584 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 156.7% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 835.1% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer bought 693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $71.44 per share, for a total transaction of $49,507.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,370 shares in the company, valued at $1,098,032.80. The trade was a 4.72% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 50,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.40, for a total value of $3,320,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,167,641 shares in the company, valued at $874,331,362.40. The trade was a 0.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 24.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on SMG shares. UBS Group set a $67.00 target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.50.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of SMG opened at $64.34 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $64.91 and a 200-day moving average of $59.97. The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.77 and a beta of 1.96. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $45.61 and a 1 year high of $72.35.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The basic materials company reported ($0.77) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.04) by $0.27. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 2.68% and a negative return on equity of 68.59%. The business had revenue of $354.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $353.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.89) EPS. The company’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. Analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is 179.59%.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

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.