The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company $SMG Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,277 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $1,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,522,093 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,397,000 after purchasing an additional 16,298 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 12,034.5% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,008,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,529,000 after buying an additional 1,000,311 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 163.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 899,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,344,000 after buying an additional 557,647 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 458.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 822,743 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $54,268,000 after acquiring an additional 675,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 0.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 750,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,964 shares during the period. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group set a $67.00 price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Insider Transactions at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.40, for a total value of $3,320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 13,167,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $874,331,362.40. The trade was a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 24.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:SMG opened at $68.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.50 and a beta of 1.98. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $45.61 and a 1 year high of $70.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.22.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The basic materials company reported ($0.77) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.04) by $0.27. The company had revenue of $354.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $353.25 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 68.59% and a net margin of 2.68%.The business’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.89) EPS. Scotts Miracle-Gro has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.150-4.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 179.59%.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Profile

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of consumer lawn and garden products. The firm serves both retail and professional customers through an array of branded offerings that include lawn fertilizers, grass seed, pest and disease control solutions, plant foods and specialty products for indoor and outdoor gardening. Its portfolio spans well-known names such as Scotts®, Miracle-Gro®, Ortho® and various hydroponic and specialty garden brands.

Headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, the company traces its roots to O.M.