Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Upgraded at Truist Financial

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $70.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on SMG. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.33.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $51.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of -106.98 and a beta of 1.96. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a fifty-two week low of $49.39 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.92.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its earnings results 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 previous year, the business posted ($1.45) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -550.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total transaction of $99,646.18. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,748.54. The trade was a 10.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total value of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 88,310 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,432,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $124,203,000 after buying an additional 15,869 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,453,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 14,730 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 72.6% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 628,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,689,000 after acquiring an additional 264,369 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth $39,986,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.