Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP Shares Bought by Gabelli Funds LLC

Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 5.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 438,010 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,906 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned about 1.99% of Standard Motor Products worth $17,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SMP. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 235.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,298 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Standard Motor Products during the third quarter worth about $108,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA acquired a new stake in Standard Motor Products during the third quarter worth about $233,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Standard Motor Products during the third quarter worth about $241,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Standard Motor Products during the third quarter worth about $243,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Standard Motor Products

In other Standard Motor Products news, VP Ray Nicholas sold 9,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.01, for a total value of $345,624.93. Following the sale, the vice president owned 40,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,543,548.09. The trade was a 18.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Standard Motor Products Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of SMP stock opened at $37.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $828.26 million, a PE ratio of 20.22 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.44. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.38 and a 1-year high of $46.00.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $385.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $385.91 million. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 13.15%. On average, analysts predict that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, February 16th were issued a $0.33 dividend. This is a boost from Standard Motor Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Standard Motor Products’s payout ratio is 71.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Standard Motor Products in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Standard Motor Products has a consensus rating of “Hold” 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.