Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 733.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SMG. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. RBF Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the third quarter worth approximately $2,601,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,563,000 after purchasing an additional 331,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.1% in the third 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 in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $10,213,973.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $255,112.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,001,998. This represents a 5.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275 over the last ninety days. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 5.7 %

SMG opened at $57.91 on Thursday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52 week low of $53.37 and a 52 week high of $93.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $63.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.19. The company has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of -120.64 and a beta of 1.79.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.45) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SMG shares. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.33.

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.