The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $71.67.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $83.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

SMG stock opened at $70.58 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.31 and a beta of 1.76. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1-year low of $43.67 and a 1-year high of $77.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.34.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 10.14% and a negative return on equity of 20.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.67, for a total transaction of $2,159,770.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,746,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $957,684,656.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 26.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SMG. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 585,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,070,000 after purchasing an additional 15,569 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 2nd quarter valued at $844,000. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 107.4% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,422 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 1,772 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 309.5% in the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 215,717 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,035,000 after buying an additional 163,037 shares during the period. Finally, &PARTNERS bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the second quarter valued at about $382,000. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.