Legato Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Legato Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) by 28.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,534 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,380 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC owned 0.19% of Standard Motor Products worth $1,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,655,886 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $51,299,000 after purchasing an additional 69,000 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 717,457 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $22,227,000 after purchasing an additional 32,197 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 497,258 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $15,405,000 after purchasing an additional 86,640 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 494,489 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $15,323,000 after purchasing an additional 9,190 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 334,037 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $10,348,000 after purchasing an additional 12,379 shares during the period. 81.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Standard Motor Products from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday.

Standard Motor Products Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE SMP traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.63. 125,369 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 143,863. 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 cap of $717.31 million, a PE ratio of 23.31 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.37. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.02% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The company had revenue of $413.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $394.38 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. Standard Motor Products's revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from Standard Motor Products's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Standard Motor Products's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.57%.

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.