Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $53.08, but opened at $55.00. Scotts Miracle-Gro shares last traded at $55.38, with a volume of 158,812 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SMG. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -111.55 and a beta of 1.96. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.94.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS 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) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is -550.00%.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $10,213,973.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total transaction of $99,646.18. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,039 shares in the company, valued at $858,748.54. This trade represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SMG. PFG Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,807,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Investment House LLC grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 61,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,059,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.3% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 8,826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is 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.