Millennium Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Millennium Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) by 65.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,567 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 18,035 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC's holdings in Standard Motor Products were worth $296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,655,886 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $51,299,000 after buying an additional 69,000 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 2.1% in 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 period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 86,640 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Standard Motor Products by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 494,489 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $15,323,000 after purchasing an additional 9,190 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Standard Motor Products Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NYSE:SMP traded down $0.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $30.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 107,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 168,726. The stock has a market capitalization of $661.85 million, a PE ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.65. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.38 and a 12 month high of $35.92. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $27.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.96. 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 (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $413.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.38 million. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.56% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm's revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. 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 dividend yield of 4.12%. Standard Motor Products's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.57%.

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.