Dark Forest Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 19,782 Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 19,782 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $613,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP owned about 0.09% of Standard Motor Products as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,655,886 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $51,299,000 after acquiring an additional 69,000 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 929,813 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $28,806,000 after purchasing an additional 19,180 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 717,457 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $22,227,000 after purchasing an additional 32,197 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 497,258 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $15,405,000 after purchasing an additional 86,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Standard Motor Products by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 494,489 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $15,323,000 after buying an additional 9,190 shares during the period. 81.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Standard Motor Products from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Standard Motor Products Stock Down 0.0 %

SMP stock traded down $0.00 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $27.10. 74,937 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 166,024. The stock has a market capitalization of $616.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $25.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.59. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.38 and a 12-month high of $35.92.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $413.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $394.38 million. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.56% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. This is an increase from Standard Motor Products's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Standard Motor Products's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Standard Motor Products

In related news, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total transaction of $299,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,860 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,546,592. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Standard Motor Products

Standard Motor Products, Inc manufactures and distributes replacement automotive parts in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Vehicle Control, Temperature Control, and Engineered Solutions segments. The company provides components for the ignition, emissions, and fuel delivery systems, such as air injection and induction components, air management valves, regulators and solenoids, exhaust gas recirculation components, fuel injectors and related components, fuel valves, ignition coils, connectors and sockets, modules, pumps, relays and fuses, starting and charging system parts, and vapor and purge components.