Lion Street Advisors LLC Has $430,000 Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Lion Street Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 7.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 426 shares during the period. Lion Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 72.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 42,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,202,000 after purchasing an additional 18,060 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 18.4% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 230,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,218,000 after purchasing an additional 35,825 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 155.1% during the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 37,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,773,000 after buying an additional 22,599 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 2nd quarter valued at about $866,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 309.5% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 215,717 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,035,000 after buying an additional 163,037 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total value of $211,938.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 37,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,689,665.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 960 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.95, for a total transaction of $74,832.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,788,173. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total value of $211,938.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,689,665.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,078 shares of company stock valued at $6,325,042 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SMG. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE SMG opened at $86.36 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.37. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $43.67 and a 12 month high of $88.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.26 and a beta of 1.76.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.42. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 7.38% and a negative return on equity of 41.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -55.81%.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

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.