Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,495,274 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 28,414 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 6.88% of Standard Motor Products worth $46,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SMP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,655,886 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $51,299,000 after buying 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 during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 32,197 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 497,258 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $15,405,000 after buying an additional 86,640 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Standard Motor Products by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 494,489 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $15,323,000 after acquiring an additional 9,190 shares during the period. 81.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of Standard Motor Products stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total value of $299,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,860 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,592. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Standard Motor Products Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SMP traded down $0.07 on Friday, reaching $28.54. The company had a trading volume of 31,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 167,135. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $25.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.38 and a 52-week high of $35.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $627.34 million, a PE ratio of 17.62 and a beta of 0.62.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. The company had revenue of $413.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This is a boost from Standard Motor Products's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. Standard Motor Products's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.