Analysts Set The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Target Price at $76.00

Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.00.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SMG. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $72.28 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.78. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a twelve month low of $43.67 and a twelve month high of $82.11. The company has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of -11.58 and a beta of 1.76.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.42. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 41.19% and a negative net margin of 7.38%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 960 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.95, for a total transaction of $74,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,788,173. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 26.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SMG. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.0% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,201,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $338,421,000 after purchasing an additional 49,262 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,155,653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $205,307,000 after buying an additional 42,500 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,726,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,359,000 after buying an additional 542,406 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.8% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 815,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,048,000 after acquiring an additional 52,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 194.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 761,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,515,000 after acquiring an additional 502,353 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.