7,578 Shares in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Bought by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 7,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $503,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. RBF Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,601,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,563,000 after acquiring an additional 331,925 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 708,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $61,448,000 after acquiring an additional 14,730 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total value of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares in the company, valued at $6,319,463.60. This trade represents a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 12,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.86, for a total value of $810,543.78. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,432,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $898,073,615.86. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of SMG stock opened at $54.78 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $63.57 and its 200 day moving average is $72.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -114.13 and a beta of 1.79. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52-week low of $53.37 and a 52-week high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.45) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

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.