Albion Financial Group UT lessened its stake in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG – Get Rating) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,530 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 130 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT's holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SMG. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 555 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Budros Ruhlin & Roe Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,587 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SMG shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of 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. Truist Financial cut shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $185.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 8th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $116.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 14th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $113.88.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

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

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 25th. Scotts Miracle-Gro's payout ratio is -54.66%.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In related news, CEO James Hagedorn sold 60,000 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.74, for a total transaction of $5,864,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 261,816 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,589,895.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 27.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Profile

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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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