Dale Burks Sells 9,051 Shares of Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) Stock

Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) EVP Dale Burks sold 9,051 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.71, for a total transaction of $350,364.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 56,955 shares in the company, valued at $2,204,728.05. This represents a 13.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Dale Burks also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 18th, Dale Burks sold 3,500 shares of Standard Motor Products stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.76, for a total transaction of $135,660.00.

Standard Motor Products Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Standard Motor Products stock opened at $38.64 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.86 and a 200-day moving average of $38.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $863.31 million, a PE ratio of 17.25 and a beta of 0.82. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.27 and a 1-year high of $46.00.

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

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $158,258,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Standard Motor Products by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,386,382 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $51,089,000 after purchasing an additional 4,927 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in Standard Motor Products by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,101,199 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $40,579,000 after purchasing an additional 36,688 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 996,928 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $34,633,000 after buying an additional 16,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 826,471 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $30,455,000 after buying an additional 5,319 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SMP shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of 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 upgraded 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Standard Motor Products currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

About Standard Motor Products

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.