Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 727.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 98,751 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 86,823 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Standard Motor Products were worth $3,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SMP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $51,089,000 after purchasing an additional 4,927 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,101,199 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $40,579,000 after buying an additional 36,688 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 980,264 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $36,123,000 after buying an additional 39,710 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 503,039 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $18,539,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SMP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Standard Motor Products from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Insider Activity at Standard Motor Products

In related news, VP Ray Nicholas sold 5,822 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.75, for a total transaction of $231,424.50. Following the sale, the vice president owned 35,327 shares in the company, valued at $1,404,248.25. This represents a 14.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

SMP stock opened at $39.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $868.16 million, a P/E ratio of 19.12 and a beta of 0.81. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.53 and a 12-month high of $46.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.77.

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

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Standard Motor Products’s payout ratio is 64.71%.

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.