Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Price Target to $85.00

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 14.11% from the stock’s previous close.

SMG has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.25.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SMG traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $74.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 214,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 805,300. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.61 and a beta of 1.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.39. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a one year low of $48.29 and a one year high of $93.90.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($2.31) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.94) by ($0.37). The business had revenue of $414.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $392.95 million. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative net margin of 7.38% and a negative return on equity of 41.19%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Scotts Miracle-Gro

In other news, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total transaction of $211,938.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,689,665.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Scotts Miracle-Gro news, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 85,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total value of $6,038,270.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,608,238 shares in the company, valued at $965,232,321.34. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total transaction of $211,938.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,689,665.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 26.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 72.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 42,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,202,000 after purchasing an additional 18,060 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the first quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 36,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,734,000 after acquiring an additional 866 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 15,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 83,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,258,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

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.