Royce & Associates LP Has $32.65 Million Stock Holdings in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,309,714 shares of the auto parts company's stock after acquiring an additional 26,712 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 5.76% of Standard Motor Products worth $32,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,710,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $15,405,000 after purchasing an additional 86,640 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Standard Motor Products during the fourth quarter valued at $499,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Standard Motor Products by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 84,923 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $2,631,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

SMP traded down $0.34 on Friday, hitting $32.63. 125,369 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 143,863. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.38 and a 12-month high of $35.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.06 and a 200-day moving average of $28.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $717.27 million, a PE ratio of 23.31 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. This is an increase from Standard Motor Products's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Standard Motor Products's payout ratio 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.