Investment House LLC Sells 31,230 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG

Investment House LLC trimmed its position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 71.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 31,230 shares during the period. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $621,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the first quarter worth $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2,021.4% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 394.1% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 751 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 661.9% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the first quarter valued at about $96,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.2%

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock opened at $59.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.55 and a beta of 1.87. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $47.90 and a 1 year high of $75.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $55.28 and a 200-day moving average of $60.74.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 81.90% and a net margin of 2.19%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently 229.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 5th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.20.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total value of $80,002.72. Following the sale, the director directly owned 30,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,061,829.28. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark D. Kingdon sold 831 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.65, for a total transaction of $51,231.15. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $667,484.55. This trade represents a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,002 shares of company stock worth $2,154,734. 24.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a provider of consumer lawn and garden products headquartered in Marysville, Ohio. The company develops and markets products designed to help consumers grow and maintain lawns, gardens, landscapes and indoor plants.

Its portfolio includes lawn fertilizers, grass seed, plant food, gardening products, pest-control solutions, soils and related growing supplies. Key consumer brands include Scotts, Miracle-Gro, Ortho and Tomcat. The company also has a history of serving the controlled-environment agriculture and hydroponics markets through specialized growing products and supplies.

Scotts Miracle-Gro was founded in 1868 and has built a broad distribution network serving retail customers, garden centers and other outlets.