The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG Shares Acquired by Brandes Investment Partners LP

Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 362.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 737,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 578,174 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned about 1.27% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $43,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.9% in the third quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 10,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.5% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 5,077 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 39,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.1% in the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,796 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. 74.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.67.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $59.63 on Wednesday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $52.00 and a 1 year high of $72.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31 and a beta of 1.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.72.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.97 by $0.56. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 79.61% and a net margin of 3.27%.The business had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 4.37 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently 147.49%.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of consumer lawn and garden products. The firm serves both retail and professional customers through an array of branded offerings that include lawn fertilizers, grass seed, pest and disease control solutions, plant foods and specialty products for indoor and outdoor gardening. Its portfolio spans well-known names such as Scotts®, Miracle-Gro®, Ortho® and various hydroponic and specialty garden brands.

Headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, the company traces its roots to O.M.