Parthenon LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Parthenon LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,150 shares during the period. Parthenon LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $2,629,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $717,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 83.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.7% during the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,898 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

SMG opened at $63.78 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of -132.87 and a beta of 1.74. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $56.01 and a one year high of $93.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $68.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.46.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted ($1.45) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -549.99%.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 18,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $6,616,399.68. This represents a 17.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 28,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,553,774 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 218,164 shares of company stock worth $15,789,544. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. 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 objective on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.83.

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.