Legato Capital Management LLC Trims Position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP

Legato Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 80.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,139 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 26,037 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Standard Motor Products were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 980,264 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $36,123,000 after buying an additional 39,710 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 439,630 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $16,200,000 after buying an additional 1,620 shares in the last quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 14,794 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $545,000 after buying an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Standard Motor Products during the 4th quarter valued at about $280,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC grew its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $595,000 after buying an additional 1,705 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Standard Motor Products from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research downgraded Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Standard Motor Products currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

Shares of Standard Motor Products stock opened at $40.54 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.26 and a 200 day moving average of $38.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $902.31 million, a PE ratio of 19.87 and a beta of 0.80. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.85 and a 52 week high of $46.00.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $451.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.07 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 2.51%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.71%.

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.