William Blair Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 929,813 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 19,180 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 4.28% of Standard Motor Products worth $28,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMP. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 147.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,031 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 64.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,745 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,651 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,421 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in Standard Motor Products by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 10,438 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 6,807 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of Standard Motor Products stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total value of $299,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,546,592. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

SMP stock opened at $25.94 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $566.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.50. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.68 and a 52-week high of $35.92.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $343.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.50 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. Standard Motor Products’s payout ratio is presently 100.81%.

Standard Motor Products Company 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.