Private Trust Co. NA Purchases 1,062 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 1,475.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $75,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,645,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $254,979,000 after acquiring an additional 118,729 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 288.8% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,421,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055,672 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 770.3% during the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 334,934 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $18,385,000 after acquiring an additional 296,448 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 13.8% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 294,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,168,000 after acquiring an additional 35,730 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 27.5% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 243,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,032,000 after acquiring an additional 52,447 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SMG shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Truist Financial set a $80.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $71.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.17.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total transaction of $4,359,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,274,274 shares in the company, valued at $826,721,784.72. The trade was a 0.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mark J. Scheiwer bought 1,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $61.32 per share, for a total transaction of $109,762.80. Following the purchase, the executive vice president owned 10,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $621,171.60. The trade was a 21.46% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 25.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of SMG opened at $55.35 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $45.61 and a one year high of $93.90. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.83 and a beta of 1.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.08.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.40. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 1.54% and a negative return on equity of 60.46%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during 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 was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.500- EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently 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.