Parametrica Management Ltd Takes $203,000 Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Parametrica Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SMG. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 59.1% in the fourth quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 40,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,658,000 after buying an additional 14,862 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 63,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,219,000 after purchasing an additional 5,275 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth about $490,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $590,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 534.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 42,424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,814,000 after buying an additional 35,736 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $56.77 on Wednesday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $55.68 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.70. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -118.27 and a beta of 1.79.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.45) EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.65%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is -550.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. This trade represents a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total value of $255,112.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,972 shares in the company, valued at $4,001,998. This trade represents a 5.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275. 25.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.