Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Price Target to $75.00

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) had its target price reduced by Stifel Nicolaus from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

SMG has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.20.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $49.95 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.92. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1 year low of $47.90 and a 1 year high of $75.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 43.44 and a beta of 1.87.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 2.19% and a negative return on equity of 81.90%. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently 229.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.45, for a total value of $2,023,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,137,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,133,885.45. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Johnson sold 1,171 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total value of $80,002.72. Following the transaction, the director owned 30,179 shares in the company, valued at $2,061,829.28. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,002 shares of company stock valued at $2,154,734. 24.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SMG. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the first quarter worth $50,058,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 161.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,289,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,443,000 after buying an additional 795,970 shares in the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 362.8% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 737,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,036,000 after buying an additional 578,174 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,595,000. Finally, Interval Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 82.3% during the fourth quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 807,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,092,000 after buying an additional 364,285 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a consumer-focused lawn and garden products company headquartered in Marysville, Ohio. Founded in 1868, the company develops, manufactures and markets products that help consumers grow and maintain lawns, gardens and outdoor spaces.

Its portfolio includes lawn fertilizers, grass seed, plant foods, gardening products, pest-control solutions and related outdoor-care items. Key consumer brands have included Scotts, Miracle-Gro, Ortho and Tomcat, with products sold through home-improvement retailers, mass merchants, nurseries, garden centers and other distribution channels.

Scotts Miracle-Gro primarily serves customers in the United States and Canada.