Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.36 EPS

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.36, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a negative return on equity of 44.37% and a negative net margin of 11.52%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.78 EPS.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Price Performance

SMG traded up $0.43 on Thursday, hitting $68.67. The company had a trading volume of 858,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 760,495. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $68.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.90. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 1-year low of $43.67 and a 1-year high of $77.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.66 and a beta of 1.70.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -37.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Scotts Miracle-Gro has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $5,648,545.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,777,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,154,354.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Hagedorn Partnership, L.P. sold 86,356 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $5,648,545.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,777,012 shares in the company, valued at $901,154,354.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Stephen L. Johnson sold 1,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.35, for a total value of $79,945.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,314,347.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 102,750 shares of company stock worth $6,604,492. 26.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.