Yousif Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Standard Motor Products, Inc. $SMP

Key Points

• Yousif Capital Management LLC acquired 7,711 shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. valued at approximately $237,000 in the second quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Gamco Investors INC., have made significant investments in Standard Motor Products, increasing institutional ownership to 81.26%.
• Standard Motor Products recently received upgrades to a "strong-buy" rating from various research firms after reporting earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations.

Yousif Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,711 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SMP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Standard Motor Products during the 1st quarter valued at $1,964,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 10.1% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 790,210 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $19,700,000 after purchasing an additional 72,753 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 320.0% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 64,037 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $1,596,000 after purchasing an additional 48,790 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 8.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 538,266 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $13,419,000 after purchasing an additional 41,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 46.6% during the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 119,454 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $2,978,000 after purchasing an additional 37,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on SMP. Wall Street Zen upgraded Standard Motor Products from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Zacks Research raised Standard Motor Products from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Standard Motor Products in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy".

Standard Motor Products Trading Up 0.2%

SMP opened at $41.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.38 and a 52 week high of $42.13. The stock has a market cap of $912.41 million, a PE ratio of 23.58 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.68 and a 200-day moving average of $33.36.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $493.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $450.21 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 2.39%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Standard Motor Products's payout ratio is presently 70.45%.

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.

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