Park Avenue Securities LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lessened its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,542 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 333 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,929 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 11,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,011,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,295,000 after acquiring an additional 119,115 shares during the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 11,535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 5,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 43,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,236,000 after purchasing an additional 7,542 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.67, for a total transaction of $2,159,770.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,746,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,684,656.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on SMG. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $66.80 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.94. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $43.67 and a 1 year high of $77.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.71 and a beta of 1.77.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.36. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 20.97% and a negative net margin of 10.14%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.31%.

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.