Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SMG. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,453,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,986,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,434,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 157.3% during the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 469,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,136,000 after buying an additional 286,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 628,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,689,000 after buying an additional 264,369 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SMG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.83.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $61.01 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $45.61 and a one year high of $93.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $55.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of -127.10 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.95 by $0.03. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.33%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 528.00%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.