Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 44,827 Shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Standard Motor Products, selling 44,827 shares and lowering its ownership to 7.33%, valued at approximately $40.16 million.
• Standard Motor Products received a rating upgrade from "buy" to "strong-buy" by Wall Street Zen on July 26th, indicating positive analyst sentiment.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share, with a 3.2% yield and a reported dividend payout ratio of 70.45%.

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,611,059 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 44,827 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 7.33% of Standard Motor Products worth $40,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Standard Motor Products in the first quarter valued at about $996,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. bought a new position in Standard Motor Products in the first quarter valued at about $823,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 8.4% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 128,896 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $3,213,000 after acquiring an additional 9,979 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 144.8% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,604 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 15,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 2,880.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 26,351 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 25,467 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Standard Motor Products Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:SMP opened at $38.70 on Wednesday. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.38 and a 1-year high of $40.18. The business's 50-day moving average price is $33.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $850.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.99 and a beta of 0.63.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The auto parts company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $493.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $450.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Standard Motor Products's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.45%.

Standard Motor Products Company 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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