The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.66

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 21st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.66 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro has raised its dividend by an average of 1.0% annually over the last three years. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a dividend payout ratio of 62.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Scotts Miracle-Gro to earn $4.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.3%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Performance

Shares of SMG stock traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $51.31. 902,476 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,045,207. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.89 and a beta of 1.96. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a one year low of $46.45 and a one year high of $93.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.37.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.45) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, Director Brian E. Sandoval sold 1,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Hagedorn sold 3,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $255,112.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,972 shares in the company, valued at $4,001,998. This represents a 5.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 159,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,379,275. 25.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SMG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $72.00 to $69.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.17.

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.