Fisher Asset Management LLC Decreases Holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Fisher Asset Management LLC lowered its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 7.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 210,240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 16,635 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $13,867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SMG. American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the second quarter worth $28,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 835.1% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 2nd quarter valued at about $66,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total transaction of $3,569,011.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 13,217,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $832,975,735.82. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 25.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on SMG. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wall Street Zen cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.50.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:SMG opened at $56.52 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.36 and a beta of 1.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.54. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52 week low of $45.61 and a 52 week high of $79.11.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported ($1.96) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.88) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $387.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.75 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 67.74% and a net margin of 4.26%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($2.31) earnings per share. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is 109.09%.

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.