The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG Shares Purchased by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 144,042 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,173 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $9,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 288.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,421,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,011,000 after buying an additional 1,055,672 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 12,034.5% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,008,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,529,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,311 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 458.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 822,743 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $54,268,000 after acquiring an additional 675,493 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 163.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 899,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,344,000 after purchasing an additional 557,647 shares during the period. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 333.3% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 603,941 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,836,000 after purchasing an additional 464,570 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 1.3%

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $58.49 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.17 and a beta of 1.97. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12-month low of $45.61 and a 12-month high of $79.11.

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). The business had revenue of $387.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.75 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 4.26% and a negative return on equity of 67.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($2.31) earnings per share. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently 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.