New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 39,402 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 255,857 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 39,402 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $16,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 32.1% in the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased 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 valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

SMG stock opened at $55.54 on Wednesday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $45.61 and a 1 year high of $79.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of 73.07 and a beta of 1.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $55.82 and its 200-day moving average is $60.57.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $387.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.75 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($2.31) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.350 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total value of $3,569,011.66. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,217,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $832,975,735.82. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $70.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.50.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company 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.