Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Increases Stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 4.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,087,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,148 shares during the period. Scotts Miracle-Gro comprises 1.2% of Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $66,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 4,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 5,077 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 39,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,604,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,796 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SMG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, May 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.67.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE SMG opened at $68.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.35 and a beta of 1.81. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.87. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $52.00 and a fifty-two week high of $72.35.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.97 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 79.61% and a net margin of 3.27%.Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is 147.49%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Profile

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of consumer lawn and garden products. The firm serves both retail and professional customers through an array of branded offerings that include lawn fertilizers, grass seed, pest and disease control solutions, plant foods and specialty products for indoor and outdoor gardening. Its portfolio spans well-known names such as Scotts®, Miracle-Gro®, Ortho® and various hydroponic and specialty garden brands.

Headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, the company traces its roots to O.M.