Texas Permanent School Fund cut its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,767 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 730 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund owned about 0.05% of Scotts Miracle-Gro worth $3,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 555 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 212 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Budros Ruhlin & Roe Inc. lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Budros Ruhlin & Roe Inc. now owns 3,137 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,600 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,246,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management bought a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter valued at $798,000. 62.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SMG. StockNews.com lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 21st. Raymond James decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $150.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Scotts Miracle-Gro from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $115.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $116.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $113.88.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.6 %

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a positive return on equity of 36.80% and a negative net margin of 6.36%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 26.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 25th. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is presently -54.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, EVP James D. King sold 17,500 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.42, for a total transaction of $1,722,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $960,579.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 60,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.74, for a total transaction of $5,864,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 261,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,589,895.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James D. King sold 17,500 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.42, for a total value of $1,722,350.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $960,579.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 27.31% of the company's stock.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

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The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of products for lawn, garden care, and indoor and hydroponic gardening in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Consumer, Hawthorne, and Other. It provides lawn care products comprising lawn fertilizers, grass seed products, spreaders, other durable products, and outdoor cleaners, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products; gardening and landscape products include water-soluble and continuous-release plant foods, potting mixes and garden soils, mulch and decorative groundcover products, plant-related pest and disease control products, organic garden products, and lives goods and seeding solutions.

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