Vanguard Group Inc. Has $51.30 Million Stake in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,655,886 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 69,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Standard Motor Products worth $51,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SMP. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 4th quarter valued at $753,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 5.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 485,299 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $16,115,000 after buying an additional 27,210 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 783,593 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $26,015,000 after buying an additional 19,652 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,876,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $480,000. 81.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total transaction of $299,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,546,592. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Standard Motor Products Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE:SMP opened at $21.86 on Friday. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.38 and a 1 year high of $35.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.29. The stock has a market cap of $477.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.10. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. The business had revenue of $343.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.50 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.31%. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Standard Motor Products Profile

Standard Motor Products, Inc manufactures and distributes replacement automotive parts in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Vehicle Control, Temperature Control, and Engineered Solutions segments. The company provides components for the ignition, emissions, and fuel delivery systems, such as air injection and induction components, air management valves, regulators and solenoids, exhaust gas recirculation components, fuel injectors and related components, fuel valves, ignition coils, connectors and sockets, modules, pumps, relays and fuses, starting and charging system parts, and vapor and purge components.