The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.66 on June 6th

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 21st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.66 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd.

Scotts Miracle-Gro has raised its dividend by an average of 1.0% annually over the last three years. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a payout ratio of 62.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Scotts Miracle-Gro to earn $4.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.3%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

SMG opened at $62.84 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.69. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1-year low of $45.61 and a 1-year high of $93.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -130.91 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.95 by $0.03. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on SMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.83.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 18.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 149,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,446 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned about 0.26% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $8,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.