Frazier Financial Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 696 The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SMG. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 77.3% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 68.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. 74.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $78.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 12,123 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.86, for a total value of $810,543.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,432,151 shares in the company, valued at $898,073,615.86. This trade represents a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 142,733 shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total value of $10,213,973.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,319,463.60. This represents a 61.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 159,937 shares of company stock worth $11,379,275 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 25.37% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Up 0.3 %

SMG opened at $57.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -119.27 and a beta of 1.79. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 12 month low of $55.68 and a 12 month high of $93.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.48.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The basic materials company reported ($0.89) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by $0.34. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 51.48% and a negative net margin of 0.67%. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.45) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.61%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio is currently -550.00%.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro

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.