Wall Street Zen Downgrades Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) to Hold

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on SMG. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.20.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.1%

SMG stock opened at $65.72 on Friday. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 12 month low of $52.00 and a 12 month high of $75.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of 57.15 and a beta of 1.82.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 2.19% and a negative return on equity of 81.90%. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total transaction of $80,002.72. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,179 shares in the company, valued at $2,061,829.28. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 24.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,522,093 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,397,000 after buying an additional 16,298 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 161.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,289,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,443,000 after acquiring an additional 795,970 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,165,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,368,000 after acquiring an additional 265,677 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,157,714 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,553,000 after acquiring an additional 2,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,087,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,121,000 after purchasing an additional 51,148 shares during the period. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of consumer lawn and garden products. The firm serves both retail and professional customers through an array of branded offerings that include lawn fertilizers, grass seed, pest and disease control solutions, plant foods and specialty products for indoor and outdoor gardening. Its portfolio spans well-known names such as Scotts®, Miracle-Gro®, Ortho® and various hydroponic and specialty garden brands.

Headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, the company traces its roots to O.M.