Fulton Bank N.A. Purchases New Stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Fulton Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 3,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 135.2% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 334 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.67, for a total value of $2,159,770.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,746,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $957,684,656.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 26.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, March 25th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.00.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

NYSE SMG opened at $67.00 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52-week low of $43.67 and a 52-week high of $77.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.77.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.36. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 10.14% and a negative return on equity of 20.97%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.78 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently -42.31%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company 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.