Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) (SMG) Issues FY17 Earnings Guidance

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) (NYSE:SMG) issued an update on its FY17 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $4.00-4.20 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $4.13. The company issued revenue guidance of +3-4% to $2.92-2.95 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.93 billion.

Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) opened at 94.66 on Friday. Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a one year low of $78.73 and a one year high of $99.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $94.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.72. The company has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54 and a beta of 0.40.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) (NYSE:SMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 36.28%. Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The)’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Scotts Miracle-Gro Company will post $4.15 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 23rd. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. This is an increase from Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The)’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The)’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.49%.

SMG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BidaskClub downgraded shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $101.00.

In other Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) news, insider Michael C. Lukemire sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.14, for a total transaction of $1,730,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,304,379.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas Randal Coleman sold 13,973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.14, for a total transaction of $1,343,364.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,959 shares in the company, valued at $1,918,858.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 190,859 shares of company stock valued at $18,326,133. Company insiders own 28.16% of the company’s stock.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (The) Company Profile

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (Scotts Miracle-Gro) is a manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products. The Company’s segments include Global Consumer. In North America, its brands include Scotts and Turf Builder lawn and grass seed products; Miracle-Gro, Nature’s Care, Scotts, LiquaFeed and Osmocote gardening and landscape products; and Ortho, Roundup, Home Defense and Tomcat branded insect control, weed control and rodent control products.