Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Stock Price Target Lowered at Wells Fargo & Company

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $60.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Friday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.80.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.2%

SMG opened at $49.10 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.69 and a beta of 1.87. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.73. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 12 month low of $47.90 and a 12 month high of $75.34.

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 229.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark D. Kingdon sold 831 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.65, for a total value of $51,231.15. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $667,484.55. This trade represents a 7.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $886,133,885.45. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,002 shares of company stock worth $2,154,734. 24.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 161.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,289,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,443,000 after purchasing an additional 795,970 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,087,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,121,000 after purchasing an additional 51,148 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 895,841 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $54,475,000 after purchasing an additional 72,179 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,058,000. Finally, Interval Partners LP increased its position 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 period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

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.