Eric Sills Sells 1,531 Shares of Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) Stock

Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) CEO Eric Sills sold 1,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.26, for a total transaction of $58,576.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 178,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,826,808.32. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Standard Motor Products Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE SMP opened at $38.14 on Friday. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.38 and a 1 year high of $42.13. The firm has a market cap of $838.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 2.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.90.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The auto parts company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.22. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 2.39%.The firm had revenue of $498.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $503.33 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SMP shares. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Standard Motor Products in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Standard Motor Products in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Standard Motor Products from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Standard Motor Products from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Standard Motor Products by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 111,541 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,857 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. bought a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products during the first quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products during the 1st quarter worth approximately $225,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products during the 1st quarter worth approximately $227,000. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC increased its position in Standard Motor Products by 28.3% in the first quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 42,534 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after buying an additional 9,380 shares during the period. 81.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Standard Motor Products

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.