Stephens Inc. AR Sells 670 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Stephens Inc. AR cut its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 670 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.7% in the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 83.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 30,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total transaction of $99,646.18. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $858,748.54. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $10,213,973.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 88,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,164 shares of company stock worth $15,789,544 over the last 90 days. 25.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 0.8 %

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $66.16 on Monday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12-month low of $56.01 and a 12-month high of $93.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -137.82 and a beta of 1.74.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the business earned ($1.45) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -550.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.