The Dynamic Dividend

Scotts’ Yield Nears 3% on Dividend Hike, Ugly Quarter

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG) announced a 20% increase to its dividend within this morning’s disappointing third quarter earnings release, marking the second consecutive year the lawn and garden care company has given its dividend a significant raise.

Scotts Miracle-Gro declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, up from the $0.25 per share paid each of the last four quarters. Last year the company gave its shareholders their first raise by doubling its payout in August.

As for its third quarter performance, Scotts earned an adjusted $1.91 per share on $1.06 billion in revenue. The company cited weather challenges for the disappointing figures, neither of which cleared the average Wall Street view, which called for a profit of $2.20 per share and sales of $1.11 billion.

The company also dropped its full-year earnings guidance to a range of $2.95 to $3.05 per share, which is well short of the current analyst consensus ($3.14 per share).

Shares of SMG were trading at just $41.66 (-9.64%) early in Monday’s session, which is a new 52-week low. At that level, they now carry a 2.90% dividend yield.