Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Shares in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $791,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SMG. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 4,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 5,077 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 39,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,604,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 5.1% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,796 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.67.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

NYSE SMG traded down $0.55 on Tuesday, reaching $66.53. The stock had a trading volume of 34,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 925,183. The company has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.08 and a beta of 1.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.08. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1-year low of $52.00 and a 1-year high of $72.35.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.97 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 79.61% and a net margin of 3.27%.The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.98 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is 147.49%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro 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.