Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Raises Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 85.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,750 shares during the quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 16,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $858,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 27.8% during the third quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 4,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.5% during the third quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 590,658 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,525,000 after purchasing an additional 36,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 29.2% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 96,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,998,000 after purchasing an additional 21,834 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, March 25th. Truist Financial cut shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 15,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.40, for a total transaction of $876,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,881,368 shares in the company, valued at approximately $810,671,891.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total transaction of $79,945.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,347.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 15,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.40, for a total transaction of $876,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,881,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $810,671,891.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 102,750 shares of company stock worth $6,604,492. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 1.1 %

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $68.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 431,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,423. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.72 and a beta of 1.70. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $43.67 and a twelve month high of $77.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $67.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.55.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.62) by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $410.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.83 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 11.52% and a negative return on equity of 44.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.02) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -37.50%.

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.