6. CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

Truist Financial Lowers Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) to Hold – Defense World

Written by Amanda

Truist Financial Lowers Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) to Hold  Defense World

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMGGet Rating) was downgraded by stock analysts at Truist Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday, FinViz reports. They currently have a $85.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $185.00. Truist Financial’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 16.81% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $185.00 to $150.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 14th. Barclays cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 21st. Wells Fargo cut their price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 4th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, StockNews.com cut Scotts Miracle-Gro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $147.33.

Shares of SMG opened at $102.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $105.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.44. The company has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.19. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 52-week low of $87.11 and a 52-week high of $206.99.

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMGGet Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $5.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.69 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro had a return on equity of 42.22% and a net margin of 8.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Scotts Miracle-Gro will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In related news, EVP James D. King sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.42, for a total transaction of $1,722,350.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $960,579.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James Hagedorn sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.74, for a total value of $5,864,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 261,816 shares in the company, valued at $25,589,895.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 79,805 shares of company stock worth $7,848,045. Company insiders own 27.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 159.4% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,177,704 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $189,610,000 after acquiring an additional 723,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,114,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 341.0% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 327,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,734,000 after acquiring an additional 253,258 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,942,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $795,708,000 after acquiring an additional 182,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,901,000. Institutional investors own 62.23% of the company’s stock.

About Scotts Miracle-Gro (Get Rating)

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of products for lawn, garden care, and indoor and hydroponic gardening in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Consumer, Hawthorne, and Other. It provides lawn care products comprising lawn fertilizers, grass seed products, spreaders, other durable products, and outdoor cleaners, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products; gardening and landscape products include water-soluble and continuous-release plant foods, potting mixes and garden soils, mulch and decorative groundcover products, plant-related pest and disease control products, organic garden products, and lives goods and seeding solutions.

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Source: defenseworld.net

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Amanda

Hi there, I am Amanda and I work as an editor at impactinvesting.ai;  if you are interested in my services, please reach me at amanda.impactinvesting.ai

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