Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) Short Interest Down 26.6% in February

Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 524,300 shares, a decrease of 26.6% from the February 13th total of 714,400 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 125,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SMP traded down $0.37 during trading on Monday, hitting $26.18. 177,437 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 144,346. Standard Motor Products has a 1-year low of $25.68 and a 1-year high of $35.92. The company has a market capitalization of $572.24 million, a P/E ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.05 and its 200-day moving average is $31.47.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $343.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.50 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. Equities analysts forecast that Standard Motor Products will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of Standard Motor Products stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total value of $299,336.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 56,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,546,592. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SMP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.3% in the fourth 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 during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in Standard Motor Products by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 929,813 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $28,806,000 after purchasing an additional 19,180 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 783,593 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $26,015,000 after purchasing an additional 19,652 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 497,258 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $15,405,000 after purchasing an additional 86,640 shares during the last quarter. 81.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.