Savant Capital LLC Has $655,000 Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Savant Capital LLC decreased its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 46.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,933 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,560 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SMG. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 835.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.5% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 14.3% in the second quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 9,538 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the second quarter worth $515,000. Finally, Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 16.1% in the second quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 2,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SMG. Stifel Nicolaus set a $70.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total transaction of $3,569,011.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,217,641 shares in the company, valued at $832,975,735.82. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer bought 1,790 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 10,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $621,171.60. This trade represents a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE SMG opened at $56.69 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.06 and a 200-day moving average of $60.60. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52-week low of $45.61 and a 52-week high of $83.55. The company has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.60 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported ($1.96) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.88) by ($0.08). Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 1.54% and a negative return on equity of 60.46%. The firm had revenue of $387.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $396.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($2.31) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.350 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.09%.

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.