James Hagedorn Sells 18,368 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Stock

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) CEO James Hagedorn sold 18,368 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $1,390,090.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,426 shares in the company, valued at $6,616,399.68. This trade represents a 17.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of SMG traded up $0.54 during trading on Thursday, reaching $76.49. 317,578 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 811,151. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $53.43 and a twelve month high of $93.90. The stock has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of -110.07 and a beta of 1.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.34.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -382.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 13.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 58,918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,171,000 after purchasing an additional 7,206 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5,300.0% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $61,448,000 after purchasing an additional 14,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 61.0% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 28,101 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,436,000 after purchasing an additional 10,645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on SMG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group cut their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.60.

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.