Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Acquires 5,750 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 85.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,750 shares during the quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $797,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 59,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,810,000 after buying an additional 18,756 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $511,000. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 13,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $880,000 after buying an additional 2,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 3,118 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Truist Financial cut shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $5,648,545.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,777,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,154,354.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $5,648,545.96. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,777,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,154,354.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total transaction of $79,945.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,918 shares in the company, valued at $1,314,347.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 102,750 shares of company stock valued at $6,604,492. 26.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 1.1 %

SMG traded up $0.75 during trading on Monday, reaching $68.50. 431,861 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 728,423. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $43.67 and a one year high of $77.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of -9.72 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $67.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.55.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported ($1.45) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.62) by $0.17. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 11.52% and a negative return on equity of 44.37%. The firm had revenue of $410.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.02) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -37.50%.

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.