Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 542,065 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 19,521 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.94% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $35,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,172,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $275,082,000 after buying an additional 151,354 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,432,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $124,203,000 after purchasing an additional 15,869 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 708,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $61,448,000 after purchasing an additional 14,730 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,563,000 after purchasing an additional 331,925 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 228.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 252,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,918,000 after purchasing an additional 175,719 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.1 %

SMG stock opened at $62.23 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $55.68 and a 12 month high of $93.90. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $66.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.63. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of -129.63 and a beta of 1.79.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 posted ($1.45) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 11,359 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $856,127.83. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 51,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,891,428.47. The trade was a 18.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. The trade was a 61.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 171,296 shares of company stock worth $12,235,403. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

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.