Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $1,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 94.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 65,557 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,265,000 after purchasing an additional 31,862 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.9% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 38,971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,621,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the second quarter worth approximately $541,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,864 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 177.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,673 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after acquiring an additional 13,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 28,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.91, for a total transaction of $2,125,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,553,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,028,866,984.34. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 11,359 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $856,127.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 51,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,891,428.47. This represents a 18.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 58,227 shares of company stock valued at $4,410,268. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.83.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.7 %

SMG opened at $71.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -149.68 and a beta of 1.73. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $53.43 and a 12 month high of $93.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.61.

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, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 62.12%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.45) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

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.