The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $69.50.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SMG. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on 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. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 9,955 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 1,802 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 35,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 26.0% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 80,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,396,000 after purchasing an additional 16,504 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 34.4% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,293 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $52.38 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65 and a beta of 1.97. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52-week low of $45.61 and a 52-week high of $79.11.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported ($1.96) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.88) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $387.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.75 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 4.26% and a negative return on equity of 67.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.31) EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.150-4.350 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.09%.

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.