Royal Bank of Canada Increases Stock Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 182.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 66,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,066 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $4,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,522,093 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,397,000 after acquiring an additional 16,298 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 161.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,289,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,443,000 after acquiring an additional 795,970 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,165,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,368,000 after acquiring an additional 265,677 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,157,714 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,553,000 after acquiring an additional 2,899 shares during the period. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,087,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,121,000 after purchasing an additional 51,148 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.45, for a total transaction of $2,023,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 13,137,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,133,885.45. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark D. Kingdon sold 831 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.65, for a total value of $51,231.15. Following the sale, the director owned 10,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $667,484.55. The trade was a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 32,002 shares of company stock worth $2,154,734 over the last quarter. 24.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SMG shares. Wall Street Zen cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.40.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Down 1.2%

SMG stock opened at $61.00 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52 week low of $52.00 and a 52 week high of $75.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.05 and a beta of 1.82.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 2.19% and a negative return on equity of 81.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.59 EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is presently 229.57%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of consumer lawn and garden products. The firm serves both retail and professional customers through an array of branded offerings that include lawn fertilizers, grass seed, pest and disease control solutions, plant foods and specialty products for indoor and outdoor gardening. Its portfolio spans well-known names such as Scotts®, Miracle-Gro®, Ortho® and various hydroponic and specialty garden brands.

Headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, the company traces its roots to O.M.