Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 8.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 129 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 24.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,726,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,359,000 after buying an additional 542,406 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 194.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 761,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,515,000 after buying an additional 502,353 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 18.2% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,113,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $232,210,000 after purchasing an additional 479,315 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3,581.1% during the 1st quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 478,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,695,000 after buying an additional 465,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 309.5% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 215,717 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,035,000 after purchasing an additional 163,037 shares during the period. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SMG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.75.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SMG remained flat at $86.75 during midday trading on Wednesday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 50,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 799,107. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $43.98 and a 12 month high of $91.09. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $77.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.90 and a beta of 1.76.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 7.38% and a negative return on equity of 41.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total transaction of $211,938.84. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,689,665.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total transaction of $211,938.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,689,665.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 960 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.95, for a total value of $74,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,788,173. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,078 shares of company stock valued at $6,325,042 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company 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.