California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,372 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.12% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $4,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 733.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 777 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at about $503,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,684,000. Finally, Parametrica Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on SMG. Truist Financial raised 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 note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total value of $99,646.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,748.54. The trade was a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SMG opened at $48.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -100.25 and a beta of 1.96. The business’s 50-day moving average is $60.95 and its 200 day moving average is $71.41. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $47.52 and a 1 year high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the company posted ($1.45) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. 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.