Bayforest Capital Ltd Purchases Shares of 17,537 The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 17,537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,157,000. Scotts Miracle-Gro accounts for approximately 0.5% of Bayforest Capital Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 477.9% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 479.4% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SMG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $68.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $71.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Friday, September 26th. Zacks Research downgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer purchased 1,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 10,130 shares in the company, valued at $621,171.60. This represents a 21.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 56,633 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total value of $3,569,011.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,217,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $832,975,735.82. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of SMG stock opened at $55.45 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.12. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a twelve month low of $45.61 and a twelve month high of $93.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.96 and a beta of 1.96.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.40. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 60.46% and a net margin of 1.54%.The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is 347.37%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.