Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG) was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. SMG shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund interest lately. There were 14 hedge funds in our database with SMG holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of metrics market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a peek at the key action surrounding Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG).
How are hedge funds trading Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -29% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.
Seeing as Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds who were dropping their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies said goodbye to the largest position of the 450+ funds we watch, valued at close to $4.3 million in stock.. Jacob Gottlieb’s fund, Visium Asset Management, also dumped its stock, about $3.3 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds at the end of the first quarter.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG) has experienced 2 unique insiders purchasing, and 12 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG). These stocks are American Vanguard Corp. (NYSE:AVD), Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE:RNF), Intrepid Potash, Inc. (NYSE:IPI), Terra Nitrogen Company, L.P. (NYSE:TNH), and CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN). This group of stocks are in the agricultural chemicals industry and their market caps resemble SMG’s market cap.
