Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Has $217,000 Stock Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC cut its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 304 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,432,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $124,203,000 after purchasing an additional 15,869 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 708,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $61,448,000 after purchasing an additional 14,730 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,986,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,563,000 after purchasing an additional 331,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 228.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 252,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,918,000 after purchasing an additional 175,719 shares during the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group cut their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total value of $99,646.18. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,748.54. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. The trade was a 61.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275 in the last 90 days. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of SMG stock opened at $57.90 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.83. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $55.68 and a 1 year high of $93.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -120.61 and a beta of 1.79.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.45) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.56%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -550.00%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.