Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,913 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 6,819 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Standard Motor Products were worth $3,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 0.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,535,303 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $42,574,000 after buying an additional 8,070 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,442,712 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $48,403,000 after buying an additional 49,905 shares during the period. Azarias Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,197,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 338,931 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $9,399,000 after purchasing an additional 55,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 306,300 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $10,276,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Standard Motor Products news, EVP Dale Burks sold 1,722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total transaction of $60,201.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,865 shares in the company, valued at $2,372,560.40. The trade was a 2.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmine Joseph Broccole sold 913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total value of $31,918.48. Following the sale, the insider now owns 81,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,840,185.36. This represents a 1.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,454 shares of company stock valued at $225,701. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

SMP opened at $32.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $695.84 million, a PE ratio of 19.78 and a beta of 0.51. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.09 and a 1 year high of $41.71.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The auto parts company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $399.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.10 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. Standard Motor Products’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.61%.

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.