Petrus Trust Company LTA Takes $637,000 Position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP

Key Points

• Petrus Trust Company LTA acquired a new position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by purchasing 25,563 shares valued at approximately $637,000.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their stakes in Standard Motor Products, with Royce & Associates LP raising their holdings by 2.1% to over $32 million in value.
• Analysts upgraded Standard Motor Products from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating a positive outlook for the company's stock performance.

Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 25,563 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $637,000. Petrus Trust Company LTA owned approximately 0.12% of Standard Motor Products as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,309,714 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $32,651,000 after buying an additional 26,712 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 790,210 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $19,700,000 after buying an additional 72,753 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 538,266 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $13,419,000 after buying an additional 41,008 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 334,037 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $10,348,000 after buying an additional 12,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 255,278 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $6,364,000 after buying an additional 8,987 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised Standard Motor Products from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th.

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

Shares of SMP opened at $40.01 on Friday. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.38 and a 12-month high of $40.76. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $879.75 million, a PE ratio of 22.73 and a beta of 0.66.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The auto parts company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.32. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 2.39%.The business had revenue of $493.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $450.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Standard Motor Products's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.45%.

Standard Motor Products Profile

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.

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