Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 17,368 Shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,745,308 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 17,368 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Standard Motor Products worth $64,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SMP. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 368.2% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 221,147 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $6,794,000 after buying an additional 173,912 shares during the last quarter. Manatuck Hill Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,102,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 850.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 84,194 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,103,000 after buying an additional 75,339 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,936,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 482.1% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 69,063 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,819,000 after buying an additional 57,198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SMP. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Standard Motor Products from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

Standard Motor Products Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of SMP opened at $38.69 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.03 and its 200 day moving average is $38.52. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.08 and a fifty-two week high of $46.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $861.17 million, a PE ratio of 18.96 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.09. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The company had revenue of $451.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $429.07 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Standard Motor Products’s payout ratio is currently 64.71%.

About Standard Motor Products

Standard Motor Products, Inc, headquartered in Long Island City, New York, is a leading manufacturer and distributor of aftermarket and original equipment automotive parts. Since its founding in 1919, the company has focused on engineering, testing, and supplying ignition and temperature management products for passenger cars and light trucks. Its product lineup includes ignition coils, spark plug wires, sensors, switches, heating and air conditioning controls, and related electronic components.

The company operates through two primary segments: Engine Management and Temperature Control.