Roth Capital Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP)

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Roth Capital in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $49.00 target price on the auto parts company’s stock. Roth Capital’s target price indicates a potential upside of 30.95% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on SMP. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Standard Motor Products from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Zacks Research raised Standard Motor Products from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Standard Motor Products in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SMP traded up $0.29 during trading on Monday, reaching $37.42. 56,226 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 166,697. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $822.79 million, a PE ratio of 21.26 and a beta of 0.67. Standard Motor Products has a 52-week low of $21.38 and a 52-week high of $42.13.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The auto parts company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $498.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $503.33 million. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.39% and a return on equity of 12.98%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Standard Motor Products

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SMP. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Standard Motor Products by 2.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 111,541 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,857 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in Standard Motor Products in the first quarter worth $332,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Standard Motor Products in the first quarter worth $225,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Standard Motor Products in the first quarter worth $227,000. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 28.3% in the first quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 42,534 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after buying an additional 9,380 shares during the last quarter. 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.