Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Price Target to $65.00

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $65.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

SMG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SMG opened at $52.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -108.77 and a beta of 1.96. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a fifty-two week low of $46.45 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.61.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.45) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.06%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -550.00%.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,319,463.60. The trade was a 61.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 12,123 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.86, for a total value of $810,543.78. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,432,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $898,073,615.86. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter worth $53,453,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $61,448,000 after acquiring an additional 14,730 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 628,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,689,000 after purchasing an additional 264,369 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth $39,986,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth about $39,434,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.