Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Makes New Investment in Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 54,230 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,113,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 0.24% of Standard Motor Products at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SMP. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products during the second quarter worth $10,882,000. Congruence Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,571,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 207.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 259,180 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $9,004,000 after buying an additional 174,986 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 368.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 83.4% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dale Burks sold 3,500 shares of Standard Motor Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.76, for a total value of $135,660.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,071,915.80. The trade was a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Ray Nicholas sold 5,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.75, for a total value of $231,424.50. Following the sale, the vice president owned 35,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,404,248.25. The trade was a 14.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,323 shares of company stock worth $792,095. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on SMP shares. Zacks Research lowered Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Standard Motor Products from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Standard Motor Products from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

NYSE:SMP opened at $38.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 2.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $867.17 million, a PE ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 0.82. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.27 and a fifty-two week high of $46.00.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The auto parts company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $526.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $511.68 million. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.78% and a return on equity of 13.28%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.93%.

Standard Motor Products 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.