Roth Capital Reaffirms Buy Rating for Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP)

Key Points

• Roth Capital reaffirmed its Buy rating on Standard Motor Products and maintained a $54 price target, implying approximately 19.23% upside from the stock’s reported price.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with two Buy ratings and one Hold rating producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $54 target price.
• SMP shares rose to $45.29 in Monday trading, while the company’s latest quarterly earnings of $1.54 per share exceeded analysts’ $1.41 estimate; institutional investors own 81.26% of the stock.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Roth Capital in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $54.00 price objective on the auto parts company's stock. Roth Capital's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 19.23% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on SMP. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Standard Motor Products from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Standard Motor Products in a report on Monday, October 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Standard Motor Products presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

SMP traded up $2.88 during trading on Monday, hitting $45.29. 91,245 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 139,061. Standard Motor Products has a one year low of $34.27 and a one year high of $46.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock's fifty day moving average is $37.72 and its 200 day moving average is $38.59. The firm has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 0.80.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The auto parts company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $512.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $514.99 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 3.77%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Standard Motor Products will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Standard Motor Products

In related news, EVP Dale Burks sold 9,051 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.71, for a total transaction of $350,364.21. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 18,349 shares of company stock worth $712,146 over the last three months. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Standard Motor Products

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products during the 2nd quarter valued at $158,258,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 1.7% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 996,928 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $34,633,000 after buying an additional 16,664 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products during the second quarter valued at $10,882,000. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 11.7% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 276,773 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $10,786,000 after acquiring an additional 29,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the second quarter valued at about $5,869,000. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company's stock.

About Standard Motor Products

Standard Motor Products, Inc NYSE: SMP manufactures and distributes replacement parts for the automotive aftermarket. The company supplies components used to maintain and repair passenger vehicles, light trucks, and other transportation equipment, serving automotive parts distributors, retailers, repair shops, and vehicle service professionals.

Its product offerings include engine management components such as sensors, ignition parts, fuel system components, and emissions-related products.

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