Short Interest in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) Expands By 19.0%

Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 858,184 shares, a growth of 19.0% from the January 29th total of 721,415 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 122,896 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.0 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 122,896 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.0 days. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Standard Motor Products news, VP Ray Nicholas sold 9,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.01, for a total value of $345,624.93. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 40,609 shares in the company, valued at $1,543,548.09. This represents a 18.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Standard Motor Products

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Standard Motor Products by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,386,382 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $51,089,000 after purchasing an additional 4,927 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,101,199 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $40,579,000 after buying an additional 36,688 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 980,264 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $36,123,000 after buying an additional 39,710 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 826,471 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $30,455,000 after buying an additional 5,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Standard Motor Products by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 503,039 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $18,539,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SMP shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Standard Motor Products in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Standard Motor Products has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

Standard Motor Products Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of SMP opened at $37.81 on Friday. Standard Motor Products has a 1 year low of $21.38 and a 1 year high of $46.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.44. The firm has a market cap of $837.49 million, a P/E ratio of 20.44 and a beta of 0.75.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Standard Motor Products had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The firm had revenue of $385.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.91 million. On average, analysts forecast that Standard Motor Products will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is a positive change from Standard Motor Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.35%.

About Standard Motor Products

Standard Motor Products, Inc, headquartered in Long Island City, New York, is a leading manufacturer and distributor of aftermarket and original equipment automotive parts. Since its founding in 1919, the company has focused on engineering, testing, and supplying ignition and temperature management products for passenger cars and light trucks. Its product lineup includes ignition coils, spark plug wires, sensors, switches, heating and air conditioning controls, and related electronic components.

The company operates through two primary segments: Engine Management and Temperature Control.