Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 38,676 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 88.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 38,676 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $459,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SMG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 24.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,726,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,359,000 after purchasing an additional 542,406 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 194.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 761,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,515,000 after acquiring an additional 502,353 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 18.2% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,113,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $232,210,000 after acquiring an additional 479,315 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3,581.1% in the first quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 478,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,695,000 after purchasing an additional 465,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 8,330.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 281,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,405,000 after purchasing an additional 278,146 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.60.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of SMG opened at $76.47 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.80. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -110.83 and a beta of 1.76. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $53.43 and a 12 month high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -382.61%.

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.