Pavion Blue Capital LLC Has $1.58 Million Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Pavion Blue Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 23,743 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,175 shares during the quarter. Pavion Blue Capital LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $1,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,563,000 after buying an additional 331,925 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 8,330.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 281,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,405,000 after buying an additional 278,146 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 228.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 252,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,918,000 after buying an additional 175,719 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,172,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $275,082,000 after buying an additional 151,354 shares during the period. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,162,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on SMG. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group cut their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 11,359 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $856,127.83. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 51,631 shares in the company, valued at $3,891,428.47. The trade was a 18.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 18,368 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $1,390,090.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 87,426 shares in the company, valued at $6,616,399.68. The trade was a 17.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 218,164 shares of company stock worth $15,789,544. Corporate insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of SMG opened at $60.32 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $68.39 and its 200 day moving average is $74.33. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12-month low of $56.01 and a 12-month high of $93.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -125.66 and a beta of 1.74.

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 for the quarter, beating 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 firm posted ($1.45) EPS. 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 will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -549.99%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Profile

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.