EntryPoint Capital LLC Takes Position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 10,547 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SMP. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Standard Motor Products by 4.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,198 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products during the 3rd quarter worth $382,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,745 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 129.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,721 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $655,000 after buying an additional 11,114 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 6.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 43,805 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,454,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. 81.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Standard Motor Products Price Performance

SMP opened at $25.76 on Friday. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $35.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.15. The company has a market cap of $563.06 million, a P/E ratio of 15.90 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.

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

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity at Standard Motor Products

In related news, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of Standard Motor Products stock in a transaction on 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 owns 56,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,546,592. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Standard Motor Products 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.