Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,745,308 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 17,368 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 7.93% of Standard Motor Products worth $64,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Standard Motor Products from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Standard Motor Products presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SMP opened at $38.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.08 and a 1-year high of $46.00. The company has a market capitalization of $861.17 million, a P/E ratio of 18.96 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.52.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $451.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.07 million. Research analysts expect that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. 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.