Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Price Target to $70.00

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $80.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 23.46% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on SMG. UBS Group lowered their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.33.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SMG traded up $1.93 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $56.70. 291,462 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 927,615. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.29. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52-week low of $53.37 and a 52-week high of $93.90. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -118.13 and a beta of 1.79.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Scotts Miracle-Gro

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at $53,453,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro in the fourth quarter valued at $39,986,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 4th quarter worth about $39,434,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1,033.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 364,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,563,000 after acquiring an additional 331,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 157.3% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 469,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,136,000 after acquiring an additional 286,962 shares in the last quarter. 74.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.