Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Purchases New Position in The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake 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 fund purchased 7,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter worth about $3,915,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 99.1% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 13,611 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 6,775 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,640,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,815,000 after purchasing an additional 35,002 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 151.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 194,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,576,000 after purchasing an additional 117,314 shares during the period. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on SMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $83.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial cut shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, March 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.67, for a total value of $2,159,770.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,746,012 shares in the company, valued at $957,684,656.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 26.46% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Scotts Miracle-Gro stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.19. 638,492 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 820,919. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.76 and a beta of 1.76. The business has a 50 day moving average of $65.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.09. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $43.67 and a 12 month high of $77.95.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.36. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 10.14% and a negative return on equity of 20.97%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th were given a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is presently -42.31%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and sells products for lawn, garden care, and indoor and hydroponic gardening in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Consumer, Hawthorne, and Other. The company provides lawn care products, comprising lawn fertilizers, grass seed products, spreaders, and other durable products, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products; and gardening and landscape products, which include water-soluble and continuous-release plant foods, potting mixes, garden soils, mulches and ground cover products, plant-related pest and disease control products, organic garden products, and live goods and seeding solutions.