Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) VP Ray Nicholas Sells 1,950 Shares

Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) VP Ray Nicholas sold 1,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.28, for a total transaction of $74,646.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 41,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,575,183.72. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

SMP opened at $38.97 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.42 and a 200-day moving average of $38.50. The company has a market capitalization of $867.38 million, a P/E ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 0.81. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.85 and a 1-year high of $46.00. 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 released its 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. The company had revenue of $451.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.07 million. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 12.98%. Equities analysts expect that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Standard Motor Products’s payout ratio is presently 64.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 132,705 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $4,610,000 after buying an additional 6,737 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 996,928 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $34,633,000 after buying an additional 16,664 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 75,421 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,620,000 after buying an additional 21,821 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 78,334 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,721,000 after buying an additional 3,434 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 76.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 949 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. 81.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Standard Motor Products from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded 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 downgraded shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Standard Motor Products Company Profile

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.