Crews Bank & Trust Takes Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 83.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SMG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. 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 note on Thursday, November 7th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.83.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $70.87 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $53.43 and a 1 year high of $93.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $71.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.68. The stock has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of -147.63 and a beta of 1.73.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 62.12% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.45) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently -550.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 11,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $3,891,428.47. The trade was a 18.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 18,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $1,390,090.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,616,399.68. The trade was a 17.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,227 shares of company stock worth $4,410,268 in the last three months. 25.37% of the stock is owned by company 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.