Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on SMP. Zacks Research cut shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Standard Motor Products in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

SMP stock opened at $37.40 on Friday. Standard Motor Products has a 52-week low of $21.38 and a 52-week high of $46.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $828.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.44.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $385.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.91 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 2.31%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 16th were paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a positive change from Standard Motor Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. Standard Motor Products’s payout ratio is presently 71.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Standard Motor Products

In other news, VP Ray Nicholas sold 9,093 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.01, for a total value of $345,624.93. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 40,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,543,548.09. This trade represents a 18.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SMP. CSM Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Standard Motor Products during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,024,000. Congruence Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,571,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew 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 worth $6,794,000 after buying an additional 173,912 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 21.1% during the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 956,691 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $29,390,000 after buying an additional 166,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 83.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 296,792 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $10,937,000 after buying an additional 134,936 shares during the period. 81.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.