Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 542,527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,723 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.94% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $35,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 125.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 3,322 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,807,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 17,208 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 4,408 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at $2,139,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of SMG stock opened at $60.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -126.22 and a beta of 1.79. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $55.68 and a one year high of $93.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $66.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.22.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.45) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total value of $99,646.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,748.54. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 12,123 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.86, for a total value of $810,543.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,432,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $898,073,615.86. This trade represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.