Arizona State Retirement System Acquires 435 Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 19th, 2023

Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SMG. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the third quarter worth about $1,988,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 21.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 381,004 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,288,000 after acquiring an additional 67,634 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 40,894 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 510,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,820,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,806 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SMG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $80.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $65.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.29.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE SMG opened at $69.79 on Friday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $102.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.82. The company has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.23 and a beta of 1.63.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.58. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a positive return on equity of 81.02% and a negative net margin of 16.57%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Investors of record on Friday, May 26th will be given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is -23.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $1,675,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,053,233. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 27.28% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Profile

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Scotts Miracle-Gro Co engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of products for lawn and garden care and indoor and hydroponic gardening. Its products and services include lawn care, gardening and landscape, hydroponic hardware and growing environments, lighting, controls, and marketing agreement.