The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Shares Sold by Two Sigma Advisers LP

Two Sigma Advisers LP trimmed its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 15,900 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $7,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PFG Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,807,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Investment House LLC grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 61,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,059,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $69.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.83.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of SMG stock opened at $59.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -123.75 and a beta of 1.98. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1-year low of $45.61 and a 1-year high of $93.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.21.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.95 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently 528.00%.

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.