Truist Financial Cuts Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Price Target to $70.00

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) had its target price dropped by equities research analysts at Truist Financial from $90.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 3.96% from the stock’s current price.

SMG has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.60.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $72.89. The company had a trading volume of 96,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 809,486. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a one year low of $48.29 and a one year high of $93.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of -106.83 and a beta of 1.76.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($2.31) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.94) by ($0.37). The company had revenue of $414.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $392.95 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 44.97% and a negative net margin of 0.98%. On average, research analysts forecast that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total value of $211,938.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 37,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,689,665.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total value of $211,938.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 37,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,689,665.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 85,130 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total value of $6,038,270.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,608,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $965,232,321.34. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.0% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,201,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $338,421,000 after purchasing an additional 49,262 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.4% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,155,653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,307,000 after purchasing an additional 42,500 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 24.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,726,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,359,000 after purchasing an additional 542,406 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.8% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 815,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,048,000 after purchasing an additional 52,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 194.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 761,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,515,000 after purchasing an additional 502,353 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

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.