The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) Shares Sold by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) by 51.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,754 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,918 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Scotts Miracle-Gro were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Scientech Research LLC purchased a new position in Scotts Miracle-Gro during the 2nd quarter valued at about $866,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 309.5% during the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 215,717 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,035,000 after purchasing an additional 163,037 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 15.6% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 241,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $18,041,000 after buying an additional 32,700 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.2% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 672,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,756,000 after purchasing an additional 14,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 148.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 13,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $965,000 after acquiring an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.60.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of SMG opened at $74.41 on Monday. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a 1 year low of $53.43 and a 1 year high of $93.90. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -107.84 and a beta of 1.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $81.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.69.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -382.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 85,130 shares of the company’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 transaction of $6,038,270.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,608,238 shares in the company, valued at $965,232,321.34. This represents a 0.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Nathan Eric Baxter sold 2,988 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total value of $211,938.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 37,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,689,665.60. This trade represents a 7.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 26.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.