Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Makes New Investment in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,356,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 835.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer bought 1,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $61.32 per share, with a total value of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president owned 10,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $621,171.60. The trade was a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total transaction of $3,569,011.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,217,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $832,975,735.82. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 25.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SMG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $56.63 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $55.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.62. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $45.61 and a fifty-two week high of $79.16. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 74.51 and a beta of 1.98.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported ($1.96) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.88) by ($0.08). Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 60.46% and a net margin of 1.54%.The business had revenue of $387.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.75 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($2.31) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.350 EPS. Analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.09%.

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.