The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Holdings Lifted by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $322,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 344.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 80,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,974,000 after purchasing an additional 62,327 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,117,000 after buying an additional 4,496 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 228.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 252,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,918,000 after acquiring an additional 175,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the third quarter valued at approximately $10,162,000. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $255,112.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,001,998. The trade was a 5.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total value of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $57.25 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $55.68 and a 12 month high of $93.90. The company has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -119.27 and a beta of 1.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.48.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) 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 last 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -550.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.