Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires New Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 509 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SMG. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the second quarter worth $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 427.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 83.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 11,359 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $856,127.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 51,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,891,428.47. This represents a 18.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 28,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.91, for a total transaction of $2,125,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,553,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,028,866,984.34. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,227 shares of company stock valued at $4,410,268 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 1.8 %

SMG stock opened at $68.52 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -99.30 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.88. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a fifty-two week low of $53.43 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently -382.61%.

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.