New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 28.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,473 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 2,600 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Standard Motor Products were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SMP. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 485,299 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $16,115,000 after purchasing an additional 27,210 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 783,593 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $26,015,000 after buying an additional 19,652 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in Standard Motor Products during the third quarter valued at $3,876,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 274.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 37,119 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after buying an additional 27,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 3rd quarter worth about $649,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Standard Motor Products

In other news, VP Ray Nicholas sold 4,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.11, for a total transaction of $161,340.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,582,192.35. This represents a 9.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

Shares of SMP opened at $28.15 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market cap of $611.47 million, a P/E ratio of 17.38 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $30.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.76. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.09 and a 52 week high of $35.92.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last released 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. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. The business had revenue of $343.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.50 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Standard Motor Products’s payout ratio is 100.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.