The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Short Interest Update

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,050,000 shares, a decline of 23.4% from the March 15th total of 3,980,000 shares. Approximately 7.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total value of $255,112.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,001,998. This trade represents a 5.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 shares were sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 88,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275. Insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SMG. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock traded down $0.86 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $51.31. 671,488 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,040,540. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a fifty-two week low of $46.45 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.89 and a beta of 1.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.37.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned ($1.45) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.15%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -550.00%.

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.