Insider Selling: The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Director Sells $99,646.18 in Stock

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total value of $99,646.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,039 shares in the company, valued at $858,748.54. The trade was a 10.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $66.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -137.82 and a beta of 1.74. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.67. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52-week low of $56.01 and a 52-week high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.45) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -549.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,172,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $275,082,000 after purchasing an additional 151,354 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,432,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $124,203,000 after acquiring an additional 15,869 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 708,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $61,448,000 after acquiring an additional 14,730 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,986,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 157.3% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 469,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,136,000 after acquiring an additional 286,962 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.83.

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.