LVW Advisors LLC Sells 474 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

LVW Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 474 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 427.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 83.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on SMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 11,359 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $856,127.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 51,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,891,428.47. This represents a 18.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 28,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.91, for a total value of $2,125,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,553,774 shares in the company, valued at $1,028,866,984.34. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 58,227 shares of company stock valued at $4,410,268. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $70.29 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -101.87 and a beta of 1.73. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $53.43 and a 12 month high of $93.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $71.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.18.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -382.61%.

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.