Short Interest in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Drops By 20.7%

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) saw a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,650,000 shares, a decline of 20.7% from the January 15th total of 3,340,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 815,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.86, for a total transaction of $99,646.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $858,748.54. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 12,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.86, for a total transaction of $810,543.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,432,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $898,073,615.86. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 218,164 shares of company stock valued at $15,789,544. 25.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Scotts Miracle-Gro

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 427.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 83.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SMG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.83.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of SMG traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.16. 633,662 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 703,980. The company has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -137.82 and a beta of 1.74. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a fifty-two week low of $56.01 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.45 and its 200-day moving average is $74.67.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a negative return on equity of 51.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.45) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.99%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -549.99%.

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.