Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) Reaches New 12-Month Low on Insider Selling

Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $26.04 and last traded at $25.72, with a volume of 9884 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.16.

Specifically, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total transaction of $299,336.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,546,592. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $571.91 million, a P/E ratio of 16.15 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.60. 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) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $343.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.50 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. As a group, analysts forecast that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.81%.

Institutional Trading of Standard Motor Products

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SMP. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Standard Motor Products by 147.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,031 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Standard Motor Products by 64.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,745 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Standard Motor Products by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,651 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 4th quarter valued at about $239,000. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

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.