Magnetar Financial LLC Buys Shares of 7,862 Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 7,862 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in Standard Motor Products by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 929,813 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $28,806,000 after buying an additional 19,180 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 18,198 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 6,706 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,651 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 187.5% in the 4th 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Standard Motor Products during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,710,000. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $299,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,546,592. This trade 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 accessible through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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 Trading Down 3.0 %

NYSE:SMP opened at $25.71 on Monday. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.66 and a 1 year high of $35.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $562.16 million, a P/E ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.50.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.50 million. As a group, analysts expect that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.51%. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.