The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 155,585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,166 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.28% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $9,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.0% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,994,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $348,326,000 after acquiring an additional 237,463 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,249,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $181,680,000 after buying an additional 44,071 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 7.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,024,105 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $280,641,000 after buying an additional 275,895 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 62.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,330,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $161,837,000 after buying an additional 1,283,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,266,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,303,000 after buying an additional 57,032 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 64,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.69, for a total value of $3,385,859.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,218,726.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 27.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $56.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.29 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.50, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.75. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $43.67 and a 1 year high of $88.61.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The basic materials company reported ($2.77) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.83) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $374.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $332.16 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a positive return on equity of 421.70% and a negative net margin of 10.70%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.04) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 24th. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -38.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is involved in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of 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, other durable products, and outdoor cleaners, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products; gardening and landscape products comprising water-soluble and continuous-release plant foods, potting mixes and garden soils, mulch and decorative groundcover products, plant-related pest and disease control products, organic garden products, and live goods and seeding solutions.