Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by $0.34, Zacks reports. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 44.97% and a negative net margin of 0.98%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.45) EPS.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 5.9 %

Shares of SMG stock opened at $71.26 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.63. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1 year low of $53.43 and a 1 year high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently -382.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 18,368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $1,390,090.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,426 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,616,399.68. The trade was a 17.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 11,359 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $856,127.83. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 51,631 shares in the company, valued at $3,891,428.47. This represents a 18.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,227 shares of company stock valued at $4,410,268 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SMG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.83.

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.