Blair William & Co. IL Cuts Stock Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 237,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 41,651 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.41% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $15,740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 68.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the third quarter worth $44,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total value of $99,646.18. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,748.54. The trade was a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $255,112.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,001,998. This represents a 5.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped 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 upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 4.5 %

SMG stock opened at $54.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -113.88 and a beta of 1.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.39. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $54.44 and a twelve month high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company posted ($1.45) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.83%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -550.00%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company 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.