Ethic Inc. Buys 6,445 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Ethic Inc. raised its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMGFree Report) by 79.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,445 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 454 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,614 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total value of $4,359,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,274,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $826,721,784.72. This represents a 0.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $80.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.17.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on SMG

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 1.7%

SMG stock opened at $61.0640 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 80.35 and a beta of 1.97. The business has a 50 day moving average of $64.84 and a 200-day moving average of $60.82. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12-month low of $45.61 and a 12-month high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMGGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 60.46% and a net margin of 1.54%.Scotts Miracle-Gro’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 earnings per share. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 347.37%.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG)

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