Insider Selling: Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) EVP Sells 11,005 Shares of Stock

Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,860 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,592. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

Shares of SMP stock opened at $26.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $580.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38 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. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $30.23 and its 200 day moving average is $31.56.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $343.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.50 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Standard Motor Products’s payout ratio is 100.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Standard Motor Products by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,655,886 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $51,299,000 after acquiring an additional 69,000 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,295,997 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $43,027,000 after purchasing an additional 73,476 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 929,813 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $28,806,000 after purchasing an additional 19,180 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in Standard Motor Products by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 717,457 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $22,227,000 after buying an additional 32,197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered 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 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.